Admin Redesigns New Student Orientation

The college held its first new student orientation since the Washington Free Beacon published a Dec. 12, 2025 article on “Voices of the Class.” The article, which reported on, criticized, and included photos and videos of the annual orientation performance, led to student performers experiencing doxing and harassment.

“Voices of the Class,” historically an optional orientation program for incoming students, uses out-of-context material, with student permission, from their application essays for a student-led performance. This year, for the first time, the performance was only open to the incoming class, barring upperclassmen from attending. Orientation leaders were permitted to watch the dress rehearsal held on Aug. 29, but could not attend the actual event. Student orientation coordinators, who were in charge of the orientation leaders, were checking student IDs as students entered the event on Aug. 30.

In a statement to The Student, Director of Media Communications Caroline Hanna stated that this year’s orientation programming was “developed in consultation and collaboration with students, faculty, and staff” and designed to be “safe and inclusive.”  

Hanna also emphasized that orientation is always evolving. “We make adjustments to orientation every year, and we will continue to do so,” she said.

The orientation programming “Wellbeing Skits,” performed by peer educators (PEs) — a group of trained student educators working under the Department of Health and Wellbeing Education to lead programs on sexual respect and other wellbeing topics — was also criticized in The Beacon article, along with other college-sponsored events designed to promote sexual respect, such as “Sex in the Dark,” an optional programming series held during the academic year.

This year, unlike in previous years, the “Wellbeing Skits” were no longer a required orientation event.

The “Wellbeing Skits,” like “Voices of the Class,” were held in Johnson Chapel, where signs stated that filming and photography were prohibited during the performances.

PE Saara Basuchoudhary ’27 told The Student that prior to their performance, the PEs were informed that the event was no longer mandatory and that “they were really gonna harp on no photography or video.” Basuchoudhary added that the PEs were not told why these changes were made, but that it was a “wink, wink, nudge, nudge” situation. “We all knew why, because of the article last year,” she added. The PEs, she confirmed, did not have to change the content of the skits. 

However, Basuchoudhary did not support making the skits optional: “I personally didn’t like it — the material is really important,” she said. 

She also highlighted the trigger-warnings given before the performance: “None of the content is explicit, inappropriate, or something that everyone wouldn’t be able to see. It’s just important information in kind of a fun way.” 

While the skits were optional, Hanna emphasized the “robust sexual health programming” consisting of many college-sponsored events at the beginning of the school year for new and returning students, including mandatory trainings — such as the Bystander Intervention Training, which all freshmen are required to attend — and “less formal opportunities for engagement.”