Freshman Meinig scholars present research on CU's First-Year Initiative

By Robert Sullivan III '04

Cornell freshmen strutted their stuff in front of university administrators April 23 in the Townhouses Community Center on North Campus. The students, who are part of the Meinig Family Cornell National Scholars (MFCNS) program, presented their semester's research on Cornell's First-Year Initiative as part of the MFCNS Freshman Forum, a newly instituted requirement of the program.

Freshman Meinig Family Cornell National Scholars, from left, Amir Noorani, John Hill, Lila Ontiveros and Michelle Fernandes, present their project titled "Impact of Alcohol" during the Freshman Forum presentation, April 23, in the Townhouses Community Center. Nicola Kountoupes/University Photography

After breaking up into seven groups of three to six students, the Meinig scholars investigated areas including alcohol abuse on campus, program houses, dining, academic advising, class identity, late-night programming, and new student/upperclass student interaction.

To begin their research, students kept journals detailing their thoughts on the First-Year Initiative, and eventually conducted focus groups and passed out surveys among their peers. The students then began the process of analyzing the data and drawing conclusions on what they had observed.

In her opening remarks Kris DeLuca-Beach, director of MFCNS, said she hoped the results of the program will give "feedback to administrators to facilitate change for next year." But more importantly, she said, the research opportunity gave students a chance to learn about themselves and team dynamics as well as a chance to learn more about Cornell and the resources that are available to students.

While commenting on class identity, freshman Mark Keremedjiev said, "People here feel there are not enough traditions at Cornell." And he said he felt that the absence of tradition decreased the feeling of unity among students throughout the university.

Deseanne Bluiett, who researched the effectiveness of late-night programming on campus, said she found that, "Late-night programming is a great idea," but it is not as popular as it could be. "Basically all that we have to do is advertise more to get the students there," she said.

After completing a statistical analysis of the surveys the research group completed in program houses and outside of Robert Purcell Community Center, Christina Hayes said she found that, "People who live in ethnically based program houses feel less comfortable towards other Cornellians."

Presenting research on academic advising, Janelle Weinstock commented that, "Cornell needs to encourage students to seek advice from all professors, not necessarily their advisers," and she proposed that the university institute a program whereby students could evaluate the performance of their advisers, similar to the teacher evaluations completed at the conclusion of a class.

Administrators noted that the issues the students addressed have been concerns of administrators for a long time, and they said there are no easy answers to these problems. Dean of Students Kent Hubbell noted, "These are challenges that administrators have been dealing with for 50 years." Donald King, director of community development in Campus Life, echoed those sentiments when he said, "The students emphasized the areas of discussion that we have every day."

Jerome Ziegler, professor emeritus of policy analysis and management and former dean of the College of Human Ecology, who was responsible for formulating some of the topics students worked on, said of the MFCNS Freshman Forum: "This is a very important program at Cornell. Those involved have given it a lot of time."

The national scholars scholarship program was initiated in 1944 as a way of attracting the best students in the country to Cornell. It is the oldest of the three programs encompassed by the Cornell Commitment, which also includes The Cornell Tradition and the Presidential Research Scholars Program.

Cornell alumni Nancy Schlegel Meinig '62 and Peter Meinig '61, chair of the university's board of trustees, endowed the program in 1998. Fifty freshmen demonstrating extraordinary promise in leadership are selected for the program each year and can receive up to $4,000 toward their yearly undergraduate educational costs.