When freshmen started
classes for the first time last Wednesday, August 30,
they already had a pretty good idea of what to expect in their
new lives as students at a public research university.
They had been through the orientation program during the summer
and, after moving into their residence halls, they attended
the annual Convocation with their parents. Convocation is the
beginning of the Husky Weeks of Welcome (WOW), designed to ease
the transition to the new phase in their lives, as college students.
They'll get a boost in adjusting to the rigors of academic pursuits,
in managing study versus recreational time, and in making their
way through the next four years or so. That help will come through
the First Year Experience, started three years ago. And new
this year is the Northwest Experience, a program in the newly
renovated Northwest Campus residence halls, where nearly 900 freshmen
will live and study together.
Yet this is not the first time efforts have been made to welcome
freshmen.
Rather than driving up with mom and dad in the family car, students
arriving between 1881 and into the 1930s came to the campus
in Storrs by the Central Vermont Railroad. They got off at the
Eagleville Station and either walked or rode to the campus in
a horse-drawn buggy, or later a "jitney" - equivalent to a mini-bus
today. Route 195, acquired as a state road in 1916, wasn't paved
until 1931.
Whatever welcome there may have been in those early years was
limited. The course catalog advised that "upon arrival, new
students should report at once to the Secretary's office in
the Main Building." That was Old Main, the administration building
from 1890 to 1929, located on what is now the field between
Beach and the former Waring Chemistry Building.
Other than course registration, records do not indicate how
these freshmen were officially welcomed into their new surroundings.
They were, however, "welcomed" by upperclassmen, primarily through
hazing and traditions such as the annual freshmen-sophomore
banquet and rope pulls.(Please see earlier articles in the series
on Fall Traditions.)
In the 1920s, the first major campus event of the academic year
was the President's Reception, hosted by President Charles L.
Beach. Incoming classes at the time numbered around 100 students.
The first handbook published for students, printed for the 1921-22
academic year, advises that it is "essential that incoming students
read the constitutions of our governing organizations." In the
fall of 1921, new students registered for classes on Sept. 20
and classes began the next day, so any orientation was brief.
In 1930, a new course showed up in the Course Catalog for Connecticut
Agricultural College: Orientation for Women, or Home Economics
27, was a one-semester, two-credit course taught by Mildred
French, who was later dean of home economics, dean of women,
and director of housing for women. The catalog description says
the course "considers the methods and objectives of study; the
organization of a land grant college; and the various professional
and vocational occupations entered by college women."
Beginning in 1932, the course became Education 100, still titled
Orientation for Women, but it carried only one credit. Also
that year, a similar course was offered for men: Education 101,
Freshmen Problems.
The two carried the same course description: "This course considers
the methods and objectives of study, organization of the student's
time, participation in extra-curricular activities, and other
problems related to student life." But there was one additional
sentence in the description of the men's course: "An opportunity
will be given to meet representatives of various occupations."
The men's course was taught primarily by Sumner A. Dole, the
first dean of men, coach of men's baseball, football and basketball
in the 1920s and 1930s, and a professor of physical education.
Over the next decade, French and Dole would continue to teach
the orientation courses required for all freshmen. Dole had
help, because men significantly outnumbered women at the time:
there were 512 men and 194 women enrolled in 1932-33.
Changes to the course came in the years following the College's
transition in 1939 into the University of Connecticut. The 1942
catalog lists one course for both men and women, Interdepartmental
100, titled Orientation. It was offered in the first semester
only, and carried one "non-academic" credit. It was now required
of all students entering the University with less than two semesters
of previous college work. Included in the list of those teaching
the course were members of the student personnel division, one
of the new divisions created by the reorganization that came
with becoming a university.
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"This course," says the description in the catalog, "is a continuation
of the orientation program begun during freshmen week and is
designed to acquaint the student with the important aspects
of university life. One of its purposes is to help students
to become oriented with respect to their educational and vocational
objectives. An attempt will be made to help each individual
student understand the various problems he will be confronted
with in the University and to help him develop his initiative
in discovering ways and means for meeting these problems, the
ultimate aim being to aid students in assuming the responsibility
for their own self-determination." Personal pronouns aside,
the course was for men and women.
With the 1944-45 academic year, the student personnel division,
which included orientation and counseling services, provided
"a program for the orientation of new students and for counseling
all students during their residence at the University."
Included in the orientation program was Freshmen Week, which
since the early 1930s was a three- to four-day period in which
freshmen registered for courses, attended a reception hosted
by the president, and were acquainted with their new home.
The handbook for the orientation class from 1944 is a 164-page
paperback volume that includes a history of the University,
and discourses by faculty on literature, the arts, and other
academic pursuits to which the new students might be attracted.
Recommendations and tips on adjusting to campus life, how to
study, and extra-curricular activities in which to participate,
are also included.
The orientation class was offered for the last time in the fall
of 1960. On Oct. 10, acting on a series of recommendations for
new minimum general education requirements, the University Senate
voted to eliminate the course.
Through the 1960s and into the 1970s, the orientation program
was part of the activities of Freshmen Week, which included
meetings with residence hall advisors, course registration,
an address by President Homer D. Babbidge, a barbeque, and other
events.
Since publication of that first student handbook in 1921, new
students have received volumes of material to acquaint them
with their new academic life. But one piece of advice from 1921
is still among the best:
"Study hard, play hard, work hard," says the handbook. "Four
years may seem long to you now, but they go mighty fast. You
can't afford to let your chances slip through lack of effort.
'Live life to the hilt.'"
Welcome to UConn.
Mark J. Roy
Sources: various issues of the
Nutmeg Yearbook, course catalogs, and student handbooks. These and other
materials in the University Archives are available at the
Thomas J. Dodd Research Center. |
