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Opinion

UH should revise its orientation process

Staffone Williams
Guest Columnist

By now most freshmen and transfer students like me have successfully navigated various channels of UH, and the newness of campus life is beginning to shape into a daily routine. The school of hard knocks, trial and error and a will to persevere were helpful in finding answers to many questions that unfortunately were not addressed during the cattle drive the University labeled as "orientation." If only I knew then what I know now.

Imagine standing in a long line waiting to use a computer and, when it's your turn, every computer suddenly becomes available because people are dashing away to class. This is a huge problem if you were like me; my good fortune turned into a stroke of bad luck when I discovered those ahead of me had logged off before exiting, leaving me clueless as to where to go, yet still desperately needing to access a computer to make final changes to my registration schedule. My home computer became my savior as I managed to find the information I needed to get log-on credentials for a Cougarnet account. 

Too bad the Information Technology department was not on our list of places to visit during orientation. Someone could have invited that department to do an presentation.

Remember those first days of class, trying to find your way around campus with the guide of a campus map? How long did it take to realize that printing an Internet version was not of much use unless you had the luxury of a large-scale printer? On the average printout, the building numbers are not legible. 

Eventually, I got a nice, larger-scaled, color map from the folks in parking. Thanks. But where were they when I needed them on the first day of class? 

By the way, did anyone ask you for feedback, apologize for any of these oversights or offer a refund? Were you aware you might have been short-changed while you were forcefully compelled to find some redeeming entertainment value in comparing the shapes of buildings to their artistic renderings?

How about that campus tour that was scheduled to take place during orientation? This too would have been helpful, but it never happened -- unless you count the walk to the various colleges for academic advisement. 

Perchance our gracious hosts, work-study students uniformly attired in red UH shirts and purportedly serving as group leaders during the whole "Welcome to Houston" demonstration, could have used a little training to facilitate more efficient use of time while we waited between presentations. They need no training in teaching everyone the "Go Coogs" anthem and making us feel "at home."

Maybe after the first week of classes, the University should solicit feedback so we can personally thank all those folks who probably are not aware of the existing relationship between their combined presentations and our resulting misfortunes. If there is any consolation for participants, everyone is now certified as "best sources for information" should they ever seek to inject quality and relevance into the orientation program.

Eventually, they will come begging for our input as to how to make this program better for the next group to come. And it is to be hoped that we will all do our part to assist because we want our orientation programs to be reflective of the high standards that make people feel good about their choice of institution. 

By the way, welcome to the University of Houston.

Williams, a psychology freshman, can be reached via dccampus@mail.uh.edu.
 

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