When parents complained that freshman move-in day was flawed, the university listened carefully, Orientation and Parent Programs Director Marc Skjervem said.

“We got a lot of feedback from parents verbally,” Skjervem said. “‘The lines were too long’ or ‘It was way too congested’ or ‘There was no order to the way students moved in.’ So we wanted to really cater to them and let them know exactly what to expect on move-in day.’ “

The changes implemented for move-in day this year were part of a sweeping set of revisions to what was once known as New Student Week, but is now known as Wildcat Welcome: New Student Week.

The freshman orientation week began Sept. 18 and ends today.

“The first big change is obviously the name,” Skjervem said. ” ‘New Student Week’ can be the name of an orientation program at any institution, so we changed the name to add a little more spirit.”

The change most immediately noticeable on campus was the arrival of the freshmen and transfer students on campus on Sept. 18 – a day before returning students. In previous years, returning students had settled into university dorms a day before freshman students checked in.

Delaying the arrival of upperclassmen not only allowed for the regulation of parking on move-in day, but also addressed university concerns about property damage, Skjervem said.

“We want to have a manageable group help move the students in,” Skjervem said. “There’s a lot of liabilities with moving things in: things getting broken, things getting stolen. So that’s why we limit it to the staff that we have.”

The other changes to the week focused on the use of student volunteers. More students volunteered for Fall 2007 than did for Fall 2006.

The university enlisted the aid of 217 students as peer advisers – slightly more than one adviser for every 10 new undergraduate students.

For the first time, the 23 peer coordinators who volunteered to train peer advisers did not have a group of freshmen to advise, a move that was made to allow the coordinators to be more focused on managing their groups of peer advisers, Skjervem said.

“We found that sometimes (there was a) lack of accountability with the peer advisers,” Skjervem said. “We’ve instituted a group of peer coordinators managing the peer advisers to make sure that they have all the information they need.”

Peer coordinator Chardae Davis said leading the advisers moving students into one of 11 zones of dorms was an involving job.

“We were going around, making sure everyone had all the supplies they needed,” the Medill junior said. “A lot of the time we also helped move stuff. So it wasn’t just us sitting around, talking on walkie-talkies; we were actually out doing something.”

Freshmen attended their EssentialNU orientation sessions with their peer advising groups, including discussions on alcoholism and diversity that were led by their peer advisers.

In previous years, students largely completed these courses online or attended them on their own schedule by picking from several class times.

Orientation and Parent Programs board member Sophia Diaz said that the change has worked out for the better.

“It gives a safe space for freshmen to ask questions,” the Weinberg senior said. “The peer advisers have a better chance to discuss student opinion, which really matters most.”

Peer adviser Merrie Weintraub said the new EssentialNU schedule was beneficial to the advisees, but not necessarily to the advisers.

“I think the consensus is that it’s definitely taken a toll on our New Student Week,” the Communication sophomore said. “We definitely have a lot more to do, taking our students to all the EssentialNUs, and it’s more of a disciplinarian role, taking attendance.”

Davis agreed that the changes made a positive impact on new students and their parents.

“We’ve been getting compliments from parents,” Davis said. “One of them tried to tip someone, but they’re volunteers. They can’t take tips.”

Reach Michael Gsovski at [email protected].