James Madison University
EN-2: Student Orientation

JMU Student Orientation has multiple components including The One Book, Orientation, and 1787 Weeks of Welcome. Environmental stewardship, sustainable transportation, ethical reasoning, and engagement information are included in The One Book. The environmental stewardship section clearly states that environmental stewardship is an institutional goal and focuses on actions students can take to learn and participate.

The One Book is presented as students' one-stop-shop that contains all the important steps, details and information needed to begin the transition to JMU. The One Book, and the companion website, guide new students (there is a version for first-year students and one for transfer students) through steps to complete in preparation for Orientation. https://www.jmu.edu/onebook/index.shtml

Ethical reasoning is embedded in Orientation programs. Ethical Reasoning in Action (ERiA), JMU’s innovative, research-based, campus-wide ethical reasoning program, prepares students, staff and faculty to recognize and respond to a wide range of economic, environmental, social and political sustainability issues. Practicing the strategy of habitually asking eight key questions (8KQ), that is, querying fairness, outcomes, responsibilities, character, liberty, empathy, authority and rights (FORCLEAR), draws attention to the critical concerns at the heart of sustainability efforts. Developing a campus culture with heightened sustainability consciousness happens as a beneficial byproduct of continually asking ethical questions.

A learning outcome of the ERiA 8KQ strategy is to prepare students to be enlightened citizens who apply ethical reasoning to personal, professional, and civic life. Routinely asking about fairness, outcomes, and responsibilities, for example, brings attention to inequitable resource consumption, long-term outcomes of discarding industrial and consumer byproducts, and responsibilities regarding climate change. 

To achieve the 8KQ learning outcome, incoming first-year students led by approximately 110 trained faculty and staff facilitators use the 8KQ strategy in a 75-minute “It's Complicated" scenario workshop. The 2022 scenario addressed the issue of providing Narcan on a college campus to reduce the risk of death in opioid overdose situations. Students must interrogate the hypothetical situation using the 8KQ, discuss in small peer groups, and collaboratively move toward a group decision. The 8KQ strategy encourages bias exposure and critically examining the ethical dimensions of situations before acting. Continuing education for students to practice using the strategy continues in various courses and academic programs as well as student activities on campus including information tables and wellness passport events. JMU’s academic culture, by prioritizing ethical inquiry and interrogation, naturally identifies sustainability as an important, necessary goal.

See: https://www.jmu.edu/orientation/its-complicated/ , http://www.jmu.edu/ethicalreasoning/8-key-questions.shtml , and https://www.jmu.edu/ethicalreasoning/ .

During summer orientation, JMU Dining tabled in the dining hall to engage with students and provide information about their sustainability efforts. A stand-up banner and rack cards highlighting the main initiatives were available. JMU Dining also spoke with orientation leaders about sustainability and answered their questions so they could pass it along to students. This included a brief introduction to the Dukes' Reuse program. The goal was to inform new students and make them aware of JMU Dining's practices. Although new students receive much information during orientation, these efforts were the first touch point and provided an opportunity for future conversations. Students were also encouraged to follow JMU Dining's Instagram where sustainability content is posted.

All undergraduate first-year and transfer students receive a version of The One Book and are invited to attend the Orientation Resource Fair. The estimated percentage of students reached is based on this. Graduate students made up the other approximately 8.5% of the student population based on Fall 2022 IPEDS data. https://nces.ed.gov/collegenavigator/?q=james+madison&s=all&id=232423#enrolmt 

Responsible party for Ethical Reasoning: Christian Early, Director, Ethical Reasoning in Action. Updated information provided by Kacey Damatey, ERiA, and entered by Amanda Bodle, ISNW, April 23, 2024.

Responsible party for dining information: Meredith King, Sustainability Coordinator, Dining Services.

These ongoing programs are offered annually.  The reporting has details for FY 22-23 to be consistent with other credits.