2014 NODAC Graduate Case Study

Orlando, Florida
Legacy University (LU) is a four-year public institution with a 15,000 undergraduate student population
located in the small town of Trailblazing, Florida. Each year, the Office of New Student Programs (NSP)
welcomes nearly 4,000 freshmen and transfer students to campus. In addition, 6,000 family members and
guests attend alongside their student. Every incoming student must attend a two-day New Student
Orientation (NSO). NSOs occur ten times throughout the summer.
You are directly supervised by the Director of New Student Programs and, as the Graduate Assistant, you
train and advise the Orientation Leaders (OLs). These 24 upperclassmen are chosen through a highly selective
process in the fall, participate in weekly spring training, and work every NSO. In addition, six returning OLs
are chosen as Orientation Coordinators (OCs) and serve as a support to four OLs in the spring and summer.
All OLs and OCs staff events from 6-11am and from 4-10pm each NSO session. They are able to attend
summer school classes or rest between 11am and 3:30pm. Every OL is needed to run sessions in the morning
and evening.
It is the fifth NSO and they have been running smoothly. Throughout NSO, students and families are
encouraged to use #LUOrientation on Twitter to ask questions and post photos of their experience. At
2:30pm, your supervisor forwards you an email from the Dean of Students, Dr. Noda. Dr. Noda presents a
mandatory program titled, The LU Community of Respect. Topics discussed include Title IX and LU
student rules. Dr. Noda is concerned by a tweet he saw while searching #LUOrientation for questions after
the program. The tweet is from a new student, Timothy, sent at 1:30pm during, The LU Community of
Respect:
@Tim_O_thy: No means No more boring sessions about people putting themselves in bad
situations. #LUOrientation #naptime
When you search for the Tweet, you see nine individuals (including one OL) have re-tweeted it and 17
individuals (including three OLs) have favorited it. You search the #LUOrientation and see another new
student, Nick, has replied to Timothys message:
@NickSmith19: Yes means Yes to a female LU football team? #onlythehotones #LUOrientation
#whenisnaptime
You realize that an OL, Amanda, has responded to the chain of messages:
@amandalynn2016: Dont worry yall. Boring sessions during the day--fun stuff with the OLs
tonight! See you soon! #LUOrientation #LUClassof2019
Soon, your supervisor calls you. The Vice President for Student Affairs Office live-Tweets using
#LUOrientation to answer questions during the Getting Involved session from 2-3:30pm. When searching
the hashtag, staff members were confused at why students and OLs are engaged in this conversation. Your
supervisor asks you to control the situation and report back immediately.
Its 3:30pm. You contact the OCs and let them know what has occurred. As a collective, they dont
understand why everyone is upset because the OLs who participated in this chain of messages used their
personal Twitter accounts and were on their break. Your daily meeting with the OLs is at 3:45 and evening
programming for students begins at 4pm.
What do you do?