As we begin a new academic year full of promise and excitement -- and welcome the largest, most diverse and most academically qualified freshman class in our history -- I want to offer a few thoughts about what it means to be a student at the University of Colorado at Boulder and about the university's expectations for all its students.

CU has a long tradition of transforming students and, in the process, transforming the world. Nearly 50 years ago, when President John F. Kennedy created the Peace Corps, some of the first students to answer his call to global service were students from CU. Today, our university is ranked third in Peace Corps participation among American higher education institutions.

That same spirit lives on in our student body today, where more than 13,000 students from our campus routinely engage in community service each year as a part of their educational experience.

Just this past year, the White House recognized CU as one of three universities nationwide selected to receive the Presidential Award for General Community Service. This type of recognition is fitting for Colorado's flagship university, a university that is committed to excellence in scholarship, research and teaching, and one that holds our undergraduate and graduate students, and our faculty and staff, to the highest standards in all that they do.

There will be much to challenge and develop your mind here -- myriad opportunities in student government, theater, the arts, service programs or special programs such as the Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program, which will allow you to work in close contact with senior faculty on research projects that will add to human knowledge even as they add to your knowledge.

This transfer of knowledge, and the associated transformation of your mind, is at the center of all we do here at CU.

Here at CU we have policies that govern your behavior, both on and off campus.

It is your responsibility to read, know and live these policies, particularly as related to alcohol and other drug use.

More importantly, you have responsibilities to your fellow students and to the broader community.

Be sensible in the way you behave and please take care of each other. If you don't drink, know there are other students like you and seek them out. If you choose to drink, know your limits. Don't "pre-game" before going out, don't drink competitively and always know what you are drinking and who poured it.

If you are with people who are participating in risky behavior or overindulging in alcohol or other drugs, urge them to stop.

If they are in danger do not hesitate to use our Good Samaritan Provision -- call 911 for assistance. We added this provision to our Student Conduct Code after the alcohol-related death of Gordie Bailey in 2004.

The Good Samaritan Provision allows that whenever a student assists an intoxicated individual in procuring the assistance of local or state police, CU night security, residence-life staff or medical professionals, neither the intoxicated person nor the person who assists, will be subject to formal university disciplinary actions.

We are concerned about your safety first and foremost.

The opportunities at CU are boundless and each of you has tremendous potential. As you begin this academic year you are laying the groundwork for a remarkable future.

Indeed, the stakes for your success are high. Our university and the world need you -- your ideals, achievements, experience and energies -- to take them to new and unrealized heights.

All of us at CU wish you the very best as you continue your journey at the University of Colorado.

G.P. "Bud" Peterson is the 10th chancellor of the University of Colorado at Boulder.