¹ The new student experience is defined by an institution’s full range of policies, practices, and structures from outreach to and recruitment of potential students through their achievement of sophomore status (as defined by the institution) or completion of short-term certificate/diploma programs.
² Institution-wide vs. Department/Unit. An institution-wide statement, in effect, “speaks” for the entire institution. Such a statement differs from a departmental or unit statement in that it was created and endorsed at the institutional level. Examples of origins and endorsements for institution-wide statements are: faculty senates, executive cabinets, board of trustees, etc. In comparison, a unit/department statement speaks for one or more divisions of the institution but has not been endorsed at the institutional level. Department/Unit statements may impact every student and the statement may have been created with representation from multiple constituencies. No difference in effectiveness can be automatically inferred between institution-wide and departmental/unit statements.
³ Statement of philosophy. There are many ways to go about writing a statement that defines an institution’s beliefs about the purpose of this period in the collegiate experience. Some, but not all, philosophy statements will include specific student learning goals. A philosophy statement is not merely a recitation of what the institution is doing for new students nor is it the institution’s mission statement.
⁴ Specific and clear. A philosophy statement should be written so as to avoid misinterpretation by any member of the campus community. The language used should be free of jargon so that the meaning can be clearly understood by multiple constituent groups.

¹ Limit to employees whose responsibilities include significant interaction with, and/or responsibility for, new students.
² The prevalence of department/unit-level statements of philosophy varies widely across institutions, so the task force must determine the best method for exploring how effectively these statements are disseminated. If only a few units/departments have philosophy statements, the task force may wish to look at each independently. If there are too many to review individually the task force may use an appropriate technique to focus on a selection of philosophy statements. For example, a task force might identify the departments/units that impact the largest number of students or review a sample of units/departments. The idea is to collectively judge how effective departments and units, in general, are in disseminating their philosophy statements.