September 5
Devon Welcomes New First-Years
The university hummed with activity yesterday as the campus welcomed 1,498 new first-years. President Milton Strauss issued the following statement to the university community:
“Welcome, incoming first-years! You are the 315th matriculating class to grace Devon’s halls. You were selected from a record number of applicants—over 36,000!—so you should feel enormous pride in your accomplishments. As Devon’s most diverse incoming class ever, you represent all fifty states and over forty countries from around the world. Speaking for the faculty and the administration, we can’t wait to get to know you better!”
Upper-class students clad in Devon red-and-black T-shirts were out in force to help first-years move belongings into their rooms. “We want to show the first-years that Devon is a community, and communities support each other,” said Dylan Fernandez, a junior from Arizona.
Elsewhere, dozens of campus organizations set up tables in East Quad, hoping to catch the eyes of potential new members. “We’re looking for freshmen interested in the Greek experience,” said Tug Fowler, president of the Beta Psi house.
Farther down the row, a student identifying herself only as “Gaia” hoped to find new members for the Progressive Student Alliance. “Our interest is in action and social change, and in finding those who will join us in the struggle against the status quo,” she told the Daily.
Of note, this is the first time incoming students are to be officially known as first-years. Over the summer, a university committee led by Dean Martika Malik-Adams, Dean of Diversity and Inclusion, deemed the term freshmen gender biased and exclusionary. She also suggested that the prefix fresh raised issues of objectification.
“All should feel welcome here at Devon,” said Dean Malik-Adams in a prepared statement, “not just a privileged few.”