Our Opinion: Cutting from New Student Orientation  would take away from students’ first experience at the University.

New Student Orientation has made changes to this summer’s schedule, including having smaller group sizes, overlapping sessions and cutting the student organization information fair in the interest of saving money.

Gabe Wical, director of NSO, said the NSO student organization fair usually features 15 to 20 groups, which isn’t a good representation of organizations.

But cutting organizations is unfair to the 15 to 20 groups who depend on it to recruit students, and the dedicated organizations deserve to have representation, instead of having a “session on involvement,” which Wical said would educate students on how to get involved on campus.

NSO should at least allow student organizations with direct ties to departments within the University, such as Greek life, to have representation.

Aside from the fact that student organizations will be absent, this summer’s NSO will not allow enough time for people to meet others students. Orientation is a time to introduce yourself to people you will know throughout your college career, and cutting back time for each session will do nothing but stifle potential friendships and repress associations.

Also, having 17 overlapping sessions may actually be creating more work for NSO counselors, even if the size of the groups is smaller.

Having overlapping sessions would not give students enough time to familiarize them to the University.

It seems like NSO will just be a time to register for classes and watch videos about sexual harassment, which can be done at home on a computer.

Though it is understandable to want to have a NSO that is efficient, the people in charge must keep student experience in mind. It should be about giving new students the best introduction to the University.

But orientation isn’t as in-depth as it should be, and to cut from it would be detrimental to the student experience.

The University can’t herd students like cattle. New students show much dedication when they decide to enroll in NCSU, and it’s only fair the University reflect that dedication.

NSO is more than just giving tours of campus and signing up for classes.

It has a social purpose, which will be quashed if student organizations are not allowed to be involved. And if NSO is cut too much and divvied into smaller groups, it will defeat the purpose of orienting people to the University.