Summer reading and orientation program draws students into making connections to education’s real mission – learning “how to ask, and answer, questions that matter”

Lafayette’s newest students will be making connections to their summer reading assignment in many different ways when they arrive on campus in August – adding up to a unique set of opportunities to help improve the College’s efforts on environmental sustainability. In the process, the Class of 2012 will discover the many student-faculty research projects that contributed to this year’s program.

“We want to stress to our incoming students that they will be joining an intellectual community. Each project in this year’s Live Green, Lafayette orientation program was inspired and developed by faculty-student research,” says Hannah Stewart-Gambino, dean of the College. “This theme will provide an example of what an intellectual community does best – ask questions, design research projects, and develop answers that lead to more questions.”

This summer, first-year students are reading
The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meal, by Michael Pollan, an examination of the ramifications of the U.S. reliance on the modern, industrial food chain.

The reading has drawn upon a wide range of faculty interests across the sciences, engineering, humanities, and social sciences. Faculty and other speakers will discuss issues such as food security in Russia, hypoxia in the Gulf of Mexico, and an exploration of public policy ramifications. Many professors will also use the book or issues from the book in various courses and First-Year Seminars throughout the school year.

When first-year students arrive on campus, they will find “Corn on the Quad” – three plots of corn growing in the center of campus that have been planted by faculty, students, and staff. The project drew on volunteers from across campus all summer. Student environmental leaders served as consultants in the use of compost in one plot, while other plots are being used to experiment using pesticides, heritage strains of corn, and organic methods.

“Corn on the Quad” will expand upon the faculty-led discussions of the economic, political, technical, and scientific questions raised by Pollan. These discussions will begin during Orientation and continue throughout the academic year.

In addition, first-year students will receive reusable BPA-free Nalgene water bottles to underscore that individual actions can add up to significant environmental impacts. In response to student research in Spring 2008, new filtration devices designed by student engineers will be retrofitted into a number of water fountains in high-traffic areas across campus.

To connect incoming students to the range of existing initiatives on campus, new students will be invited to ask themselves “what can I do?” joining hundreds of faculty, students, and staff who already have signed an environmental pledge to examine their individual carbon footprint and make voluntary small changes in their energy and water consumption.