<p>Two years after the organization was brought under the aegis of the Admission Office, members of the formerly self-governing Orange Key Guide Service are saying that they have witnessed a marked erosion in their independence as administrators have sought to assert greater control over the content and organization of the group's tours and in the administration of the group itself.</p>
<p>"Guides now feel that there's Big Brother over their shoulder," Brandon Bierlein '08, the 2007 Orange Key chair, said in an interview with The Daily Princetonian last week, claiming that the administration has taken a larger role in shaping guides' messages to the public over the last two years.</p>
<p>Some guides are concerned that "the University [is] creating a laundry list of things that [have] to be said in the tour," Bierlein added, noting that during his tenure as chair he heard "a lot of concern from the guides that the traditional freedom that we've had was being undermined."</p>
<p>Orange Key, whose volunteer guides lead 26 weekly tours, was founded in 1935 and had been an independently managed student organization funded by University Services until its incorporation into the Admission Office at the beginning of the 2006-07 academic year.</p>
<p>"It makes sense for Orange Key and our admissions officers to work together as we present visitors to our campus with a comprehensive picture of life at Princeton," Dean of Admission Janet Rapelye said in an e-mail in response to questions about the level of her office's involvement with the guide service. She added, however, that her office is "working to find the right balance of support, advice, and guidance for Orange Key."</p>
<p>Bierlein said that the initial transition merely altered "who wrote the checks to fund us," referring to the group's transfer from University Services, which did not exercise much of an oversight role, to the Admission Office. Gradually, however, the Admission Office has begun criticizing certain tour content and influencing the group in other ways, he said.</p>
<p>The end result of the new oversight is that "the student-run part of Orange Key is slowly being whittled away in the name of maintaining the image the University wants to propagate," Bierlein said.</p>
<p>Current Orange Key officers declined to comment for this article, with vice chair Christopher Molosso '09 citing "the best interest of Orange Key's healthy relationship with the Admission Office" in an e-mail.
Substantive changes</p>
<p>Current guides pointed to several examples of what they said was improper interference by the Admission Office. Administrators stepped in, for example, to stop guides from poking fun at the design of the architecture school.</p>
<p>"A lot of guides were making comments that it is ironic that the architecture school is the least aesthetically pleasing building on campus," said Liron Noiman '09, a current guide. But after someone associated with the architecture program heard the comment and contacted a member of the University Board of Trustees, Noiman said, "an admission officer stepped in and said, 'you guys need to stop saying that.'</p>
<p>"Sometimes it's hard to know if the answer I'm giving is the actual answer I'm supposed to give from the Admission Office," guide Dalia Nahol '10 said.</p>
<p>"I don't really like [starting at Clio]," said Thomas Klein '09, another tour guide, referring to the Admission Office's insistence that all tours start outside the building that houses the undergraduate admissions lobby. "It makes it more difficult to show as much of campus as you can in one hour."</p>
<p>Klein emphasized that while tours must originate from Clio Hall, guides still decide the rest of tour routes.</p>
<p>Rapelye said that her office has "encouraged the guides to be candid in their comments about the University."</p>
<p>"We also work to ensure that the information provided about the University, its history and its policies is accurate for the many families and visitors who rely on the tours as a resource," she said.</p>
<p>A more direct presence</p>
<p>In addition to modifying tour content, the Admission Office has at times bypassed the student group's officer corps by contacting individual guides a practice that has drawn fire from some in the group's leadership.</p>
<p>"There have been a number of occasions where a University administrator or trustee member or a professor [who] goes on a tour, is unhappy with something that was said on the tour, and instead of bringing it up with the Orange Key officer corps, they go to the Admission Office," Bierlein said.</p>
<p>When the Admission Office has received word of faculty or administrator displeasure with tour content, "[the office has] whipped into a frenzy" and approached individual guides instead of the officers, he added.</p>
<p>A further threat to Orange Key's independence is the emerging presence of admission officers at Orange Key meetings, Bierlein said, because "there [can't] be an honest discussion" as to the role of the Admission Office.</p>
<p>Bierlein said that when the current chair, Jo Ann Karhson '09, broached this issue with the Admission Office, the office told her that having an admissions officer present at all meetings was "the way it has always been."</p>
<p>Bierlein, however, noted that when he was chair, this was not standard practice. "I know that isn't the way things have always been, and it wasn't that way under me," he explained.</p>
<p>Not all guides, however, are concerned about the Admission Office's involvement.</p>
<p>"I don't feel confined because [the Admission Office] can declare that certain things can happen, but we still have control over tours," guide Jordan Bubin '09 said.</p>
<p>Guides have also seen positive effects from the office's involvement. Nahol cited a uniformity of message among guides as a benefit, explaining that she finds the office's list of answers to frequently asked questions helpful.</p>
<p>A gradual shift</p>
<p>Alexie Rothman '07 oversaw the group's transition from University Services to the Admission Office halfway through her term as 2006 Orange Key chair. She did not notice a decrease in the group's operating independence at the time.</p>
<p>"The only difference I saw on a tour is if we got asked if we operated independently of the Admissions Office, you could no longer say that we're completely separate," she said.</p>
<p>In an interview with the 'Prince' following the announcement of the change, Rothman said that "the most important part of the student-run aspect of Orange Key is in the flexibility and freedom that Orange Key guides have to design their tours and really give a personal spin on what makes Princeton so special, and by no means is that going to change."</p>
<p>These aspects, however, began to change during Bierlein's term as chair, when "there wasn't so much of a focus [from the Admission Office] on the budget, but instead on the everyday administration of Orange Key," he said, citing tour content and the starting point for routes as specific examples. "The issue became an ongoing battle for my year."</p>
<p>Looking forward, Bierlein emphasized the need to "set up a clear structure" regarding communication between the Admission Office and the Chair, adding that he sees admission officer Jacob Bregman '06, the 2005 Orange Key chair, "in a position of being able to effect an enormous amount of growth in the relationship" between Orange Key and the Admission Office.</p>
<p>Bregman often works with Orange Key, Bierlein said, but is not "respecting the wishes of each individual chairman."</p>
<p>Bregman, the last chair to hold the office while the group was under the auspices of University Services, declined to comment for this article.</p>
<p>For the time being, though independence remains a concern, Bierlein is hopeful that the organization will continue to portray the University relatively accurately to visitors.</p>
<p>"If the status quo can be maintained ... the system will work for the immediate future," Bierlein said. While he reiterated that "independence, which has shaped the relationship with the administration for a long time, is being undermined," he also acknowledged that tour guides can still explain to visitors that while Orange Key is under the purview of the Admission Office, it is still an "independent organization."</p>
<p>"We can still, for the most part, say what we want to say," he said.</p>
<p>Orange</a> Key members concerned about Admission Office oversight - The Daily Princetonian</p>