My very initial reactions to this (having briefly done some campus organizing in my last years in college):
I don’t think the reputational risks are a serious problem; there certainly weren’t any “unwritten rules” as far as I know at my university (at least not for general student organizations; for Greek organizations—frats and sororities—there is literally a formal and enforced code of rules for certain things, but I know little about the specifics there)
I agree that this is probably worth exploring further if groups are not already doing it, however:
The main issue I see with this is practicality: most of this orientation targeting would probably have to take place over the summer, and in some cases students do not stay on campus during the summer. Additionally, my memory of orientation is a bit foggy, but there may not be many formal opportunities for groups to advertise to the prefreshies. Additionally, continued/immediate engagement could be a challenge. If there were some summer intro program or fellowship that could be nice, except it may be too late in the summer. (Weekend retreats, on the other hand, might be more doable? IDK)
My very initial reactions to this (having briefly done some campus organizing in my last years in college):
I don’t think the reputational risks are a serious problem; there certainly weren’t any “unwritten rules” as far as I know at my university (at least not for general student organizations; for Greek organizations—frats and sororities—there is literally a formal and enforced code of rules for certain things, but I know little about the specifics there)
I agree that this is probably worth exploring further if groups are not already doing it, however:
The main issue I see with this is practicality: most of this orientation targeting would probably have to take place over the summer, and in some cases students do not stay on campus during the summer. Additionally, my memory of orientation is a bit foggy, but there may not be many formal opportunities for groups to advertise to the prefreshies. Additionally, continued/immediate engagement could be a challenge. If there were some summer intro program or fellowship that could be nice, except it may be too late in the summer. (Weekend retreats, on the other hand, might be more doable? IDK)