The University created a task force this week to assess the overall freshman experience, including the effectiveness of pre-semester programs and whether students should participate in a mandatory day of community service, a senior administrator said this week.

Robert Chernak, senior vice president for Student and Academic Support Services, said the group will consider a variety of factors as part of an overall University effort to “examine the entire freshman experience.”

“The committee will look at programs and see what we’re missing and what can be deleted,” Chernak said, adding, “We really need to ask ourselves what it is we’re trying to accomplish.”

The proposed changes for freshmen would consist of a half-day of community service, followed by a half-day of seminars and discussion on a book that all freshmen would be required to read, Chernak said. The University would schedule the day either shortly before or during the fall semester.

Chernak said the task force would look at working with the University Writing Program to find a common book for freshmen to read before they start at GW.

“University Writing would need to be more consistent,” he said. “We could find some common theme to form the basis of a discussion point.”

The task force will consist of officials from the academic affairs and SASS departments, as well as the deans of the different colleges. He emphasized that the proposed changes are still in the discussion stages.

He said, “Very few ideas have been discussed at this point.”