Add your name in support
Add your name and class year, and if you like, a few words about what OA meant to you. Names and messages appear publicly on this site.
Help Save the Outdoor Action Frosh Trip
On October 27th, Princeton University announced that it is effectively cancelling all future Outdoor Action orientation backpacking trips for incoming students. For more than 50 years, OA has welcomed students to Princeton and has been instrumental in building friendships, belonging, and a positive campus culture. We need your voice to help save Frosh Trip.
What happened
The University has announced that beginning with the 2027–28 academic year, first-year Orientation will be cut by four days, to eight, and Outdoor Action (along with the similar small-group programs Community Action and Dialogue and Difference in Action) will no longer be part of it. Instead, the University plans optional programs during fall break, the details of which are apparently still being worked out.
For OA, this represents an effective cancellation of the Frosh Trip, as many of the primary goals of the program depend on reaching students before they establish a rhythm on campus. An orientation program that takes place two months into the Princeton experience is no orientation program at all—it is a backpacking club.
By way of explanation, the University cited budgetary considerations and feedback about the length of orientation. That same week, the Daily Princetonian reported that the endowment had just reached an all-time high of $42.3 billion, and USG said it was not involved in the decision.
What we're asking for
Keep OA in orientation, before classes begin. At minimum, pause the change and consult students, OA leaders and alumni before taking apart a program that took over fifty years to build.
Source: The Daily Princetonian, Oct. 27, 2026. More coverage below.
Why it matters
- Frosh Trip puts everyone on an even footing. The special magic of OA is that it puts all incoming students on an even footing in an environment that is alien to many of them: the woods. OA leaders then leverage that dynamic to create friendships and opportunities for growth that will carry students through the next four years.
- Frosh Trip breaks down barriers. The isolated nature of OA trips has the unique ability to break down barriers between those coming from private high schools and from public schools, between extroverts and homebodies, and between the unfathomably wealthy and those on full financial aid.
- Frosh Trip works. Measured impacts show OA's benefits to everything from social belonging to correcting incoming students' erroneous perceptions of alcohol use on campus (see further reading below). And anecdotally, many students cite OA as the best part of their Princeton experience.
- Frosh Trip only works before classes start. It is crucial that OA take place before students establish a rhythm on campus. A trip at fall break cannot feasibly undo two months of conditioning from classes, eating clubs, and frats. Other experiences will fill the gap left by OA, and not for the better.
- Fewer students will go. Moving the trip to fall break will likely cause a precipitous drop in participation, given the many demands on students' time.
- The damage may be permanent. OA is special among our peer institutions precisely because of the long history of the program and the continuous revitalization of the Leader cohort with new students. Eliminating OA as we know it, even for a few years, will irreversibly weaken the program in a way that may make it difficult to reestablish later.
- The effects will show up too late. If this change shows up in Annual Giving participation rates or general satisfaction surveys four years from now, it will be too late to reverse course without major damage.
Further reading
- Brian Wardwell, “The Effects of the Outdoor Action Frosh Trip on Freshmen's Adaptation to Princeton University” (Princeton senior thesis, 1999). The OA trip corrected first-years' overestimates of how much their classmates drink.
- Brent J. Bell, “Wilderness Orientation: Exploring the Relationship Between College Preorientation Programs and Social Support” (Journal of Experiential Education, 2006). Wilderness orientation participants reported more social support than students in other programs or none.
- Bell, Trumble and Morrissette, “Social Status Equalization and Outdoor Orientation Programs” (Journal of Experiential Education, 2020). Across 31 programs, most students on outdoor trips felt equal in status to the rest of their group.
- Gass, Garvey and Sugerman, “The Long-Term Effects of a First-Year Student Wilderness Orientation Program” (Journal of Experiential Education, 2003). Participants still described lasting effects 17 years later.
Take action
Be polite! Everyone involved wants what's best for Princeton.
If you have two minutes
Sign the Change.org petition
A current OA leader started a petition on Change.org. It's separate from this site, and signatures from alumni help show the breadth of support.
Current undergraduates: sign the student petition
There is also a petition open only to current Princeton undergraduates. If you're a student, please sign it, and if you know students, pass it along.
Join our Google Group
Join our listserv to discuss how we can help save OA Frosh Trip.
Link coming soon.
If you have ten minutes
Call President Eisgruber's office
Say something like this, in your own words:
Hi, my name is [your name], class of [year]. I'm calling about the recently announced changes to first-year Orientation, especially moving Outdoor Action to fall break. I think that this change will destroy one of the best programs at Princeton. Could you please pass along my concerns to President Eisgruber?
Staff will likely ask you to follow up by email.
Call Vice President for Campus Life Rochelle Calhoun's office
Convey the same message: you're concerned about the change, and you'd be happy to have a chance to explain why OA matters to you.
Tell your classmates
Text or email your trip-mates, your leaders, the frosh you led, and anyone else from OA you're still in touch with. Having your friends hear it from you personally will help more than a social media post.
Princeton just announced it is effectively cancelling the Outdoor Action Frosh Trip: starting in 2027, OA will be cut from first-year Orientation and replaced with an optional fall-break trip. A group of OA alumni put together some resources on how to express what OA Frosh Trip means to you, including a place to add your name in support: https://saveprincetonoa.com
If you have half an hour
Write to President Eisgruber and Vice President Calhoun
To: eisgruber@princeton.edu, rochelle.calhoun@princeton.edu
Cc: m.antonetti@princeton.edu
Please use your own words -- not our template or AI slop. Advocacy is most effective when it comes from a personal place. Some points you can consider when drafting:
- Frosh Trip needs to be during orientation. OA Frosh Trip's mission requires meeting students before they get into the rhythm of classes, athletics, and eating clubs. A trip two months into the semester will be a poorly attended backpacking club, not an orientation.
- The leader community will wither. OA Frosh Trip depends on continual replacement of the Leader cohort, and training those leaders requires institutional knowledge and culture. Stopping Frosh Trip for even a year or two will do irreparable harm.
- OA's effectiveness is supported by evidence. Studies of OA and similar programs, while imperfect, link them to stronger social support and to more accurate beliefs about campus drinking. See the further reading.
- Students seem not to have been consulted. A change this disruptive needs community feedback, and the budget rationale for cutting a volunteer-run program is hard to square with a record endowment.
Send it to PAW or the Prince too
If you're willing, share your thoughts publicly. This change needs to be communicated widely before it's too late to fix it.
- Princeton Alumni Weekly: email paw@princeton.edu. Up to 250 words for print, 500 for online.
- The Daily Princetonian: email opinion@dailyprincetonian.com. Letters to the editor run 100 to 400 words.
Add your name in support
Add your name in support of the OA Frosh Trip. If you like, add a few words about what it meant to you and why it needs to be before the first day of class.
We'll show your name and message on this page to share how OA Frosh Trip has impacted generations of Princetonians.
Thank you. Your name is added.
It will appear on this page within a minute.
Next, the most useful thing you can do is call or write to the President's office, and send this page to your OA friends.
Supporters
Names will appear here as people add them.
Coverage in the Daily Princetonian
- OA, CA, DDA will be removed from Orientation, made optional fall break activities starting 2027
- Without the small-group experience, there is no orientation
- ‘Taken aback’ and ‘disappointed’: Orientation changes face intense backlash from students
- First-year Outdoor Action remains largely unchanged amid budget uncertainty
Frequently asked questions
Who is behind this site?
We are a group of Princeton alumni who went on OA trips, and many of us served as Leaders, Leader Trainers, Support, or in other roles. This campaign is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or coordinated with Outdoor Action or staff, and none of them reviewed this site. Please don't bother them about it. Jim Valcourt ’12 made this website using Claude. Send questions or comments to saveprincetonoa@gmail.com.
What exactly is changing?
Starting with the 2027–28 academic year, Orientation will be four days shorter, and Outdoor Action, Community Action, and Dialogue and Difference in Action will no longer be part of it. For OA, that amounts to an effective cancellation of the Frosh Trip. The University plans to offer optional, free programs during fall break instead, with registration opening early in the semester. Details are reportedly still being worked out. The first class affected will arrive in fall 2027.
Isn't a fall-break trip just as good?
We don't think so. The OA Frosh Trip can introduce students to Princeton and create a magical atmosphere precisely because it happens before students fall into the rhythm of classes, activities, and the Street. A fall break trip will serve as a backpacking club, not an orientation, and a rescheduled trip will also reach fewer students.
The University says this is about budget. Isn't that reasonable?
The University's FAQ cites budgetary considerations, along with feedback that Orientation is long. The reality is that OA is a tiny fraction of the yearly budget and is led almost entirely by volunteers. If cost is truly the issue, alumni would welcome a conversation about how to help, including perhaps a return to a pre-2016 model where OA operates quasi-independently.
What about Community Action and DDA?
Most of us came through OA, so that's what this site focuses on. The same reasoning likely applies to all three small-group programs, though we aren’t familiar enough with the details for CA and DDA to speak for them.
I'm not an alum. Can I add my name?
Yes. Current students, parents and families, faculty and staff, and friends of OA are all welcome. The form asks for your connection to Princeton so each name is labeled accurately.
What happens to my information?
Your name, class year, OA connection, and optional message of support appear publicly on this site. If you provide your email, we use it only to add you to our Google Group. To remove your name, send an email to saveprincetonoa@gmail.com.
Will calling and writing actually make a difference?
Decisions like this get revisited when administrators hear from many people, quickly, with specific reasons. Polite, personal messages from alumni across many class years are the best chance of effecting change. The details of the fall-break programs are still being worked out, which makes now the time to speak up.