Tufts University
EN-2: Student Orientation

Sustainability is included prominently in the new student orientations for many of the university’s schools and programs and varies slightly from year to year. The Tufts Eco-Reps organize a wide variety of orientation events for undergraduate students. Their efforts include some training of the freshman orientation leaders and residential advisers on campus sustainability, overseeing composting at the matriculation lunch and dinner, and running a “Get Green: Environmentalism at Tufts” event (Academic year 2012 - 2014) available to all incoming undergraduates. Some years the Office of Sustainability staff has also provided training and information to incoming graduate students at Tufts, including those at the Dental School, Cumming School of Veterinary Medicine, Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, and Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning. These efforts have included: holding an environmental brunch/open house with the Tufts Institute of the Environment (TIE) and the Environmental Studies program; distributing green maps, green living guides, and commuting brochures to students; running recycling games; and speaking and tabling at various events and orientation programs. During the Fall of 2014, a "sustainability week" was included in the 6-week long extended orientation programming for undergraduate students - http://tuftsdaily.com/news/2014/10/23/sustainability-week-offers-first-years-extended-look-activism-campus/ Sustainability is also a fundamental tenet of the optional pre-orientations that Tufts offers, specifically TWO (a backpacking program) and FOCUS (a community service program). In TWO (http://www.tuftswildernessorientation.com/#Info), students spend 5 days in the woods and have to live completely without waste, so everything that goes into the woods must come out. Multiple FOCUS trips (http://tuftsfocus.org/trips/) are dedicated to helping the environment.