Campfire talk may never be the same again.

The Freshman Outdoor Program (FOP) announced earlier this week that it was officially changing its name to the First-Year Outdoor Program. The change to gender neutrality, which will not affect the FOP acronym or its logo, was first proposed by the group's steering committee last year.

"We are recognizing that language does affect the way people think," said Benjamin E. Tubb '92, a FOP steering committee member. "We are trying to avoid the undesirable effect of an unintentionally gender-specific term."

The leaders of FOP, a week-long outdoor camping expedition held each fall before Orientaion Week, said that the move to gender neutrality was in line with the organization's overall philosophy of equality.

"Even though people don't think of [`freshman'] as a `male' term, they could," said Committee member Katherine K. Perkins '92.

In interviews yesterday, however, some former FOP participants said the steering committee overreacted.

"I personally don't see it as necessary; the title `freshman' doesn't bother me," said Nicole Jampol '94, a FOP participant. "The use of `first year' is sort of unnecessary. `Freshman' is a neutral term."

Many FOP participants said they thought the steering committee was making much ado about nothing.

"It's completely pointless," said Melinda M. Sick '94