MSU's campus can be a big, confusing place for incoming college freshmen. For this reason, MSU has the Academic Orientation Program, a two-day briefing on courses, living arrangements and more. Despite its potential to prepare students for college, it leaves much to be desired because of the heavy-handed restrictions placed on the AOP student guides regarding the types of information they may give to freshmen. It's not as useful a program as it should be.
Who really has fond memories of AOP anyway? Often, it leaves incoming students more bewildered than educated about MSU because the staff pussyfoot around the real issues of the college experience.
A simple look at the AOP dress code begins to show how overly cautious the program is. Students working as guides can't wear jeans, hats, excessive jewelry or flip-flops and can't have any visible tattoos, piercings or a hair color other than a "natural" color.
It's perfectly understandable that the AOP staff is required to look professional. It wouldn't be appropriate, after all, for the AOP guides to look like they just pulled their clothes out of the laundry hamper, all greasy haired and red-eyed. Nevertheless, a person doesn't have to look "normal" in order to be clean, neat and presentable. AOP forgets this.
Unfortunately, the restrictions AOP places on its staff are not limited to appearances: Guides also are prohibited from giving many kinds of important advice to incoming freshmen. For example, they may not voice their opinion on such things as the best place to buy textbooks, the best places to party or the best classes to take. Given that these things are pretty much all college students do, it's crazy to ignore them.
Topics such as illegal drug use and underage drinking obviously are inappropriate to advocate. It's counterintuitive, however, that the staff can't discuss things that are relevant. For an incoming freshmen, a chat with a candid MSU senior is invaluable - why censor what the senior can say, leaving only what is generic and useless?
An AOP official even went so far as to block The State News from speaking with part-time staff. This says a lot. The official also chose which staff members The State News would be able to speak with.
MSU is a huge place, which can make it seem faceless at times. Shuffling students through an academic advisor assembly line and making them listen to platitudes such as "don't do drugs!" or "study hard, but not too much," is not going to help.
Even the best advice can't replace personal experience, but some amount of advice is better than none.
AOP should let staff members speak their minds. We're sure the freshmen would be grateful.
