Ashley Geren/ The Roundup
Our Student Information System is flawed and most students don’t even know it.
When a student drops a class before the session starts, the gap is not closed. That seat remains vacant while other students are getting their numbers on the wait list.
“What we have is a very unstable situation during the first week of classes… Over 7,000 add slips being handed out, processing [and] students having to wait in line,” said Interim President Joy McCaslin.
Each department chair has the choice between a waiting list or a lottery system.
20 out of 24 academic senate members voted for a waiting-list policy on Oct. 12 at the Academic Senate meeting.
Professor Kathy Daruty is in favor of the dual-system, which is what we have now.
“For many of the faculty, this is a simple fairness issue,” said Daruty. “A first-come, first-serve system is simply more fair. I certainly didn’t go into this business to have to turn away students.”
Without wait lists there aren’t any ways to prioritize. The default option would be a lottery system to get into certain classes.
A student could hope to get into a class, or use it for their transfer requirements. However, they would lose the space on the first week of class to someone who has doesn’t want (or even need) to take the class.
What are our options?
Lottery system or wait lists?
Let the departments decide for themselves. We may have a flawed system for now, but just because we do, doesn’t mean the entire college should suffer.
“Everything eventually evens out and seats get filled,” said McCaslin. She believes it’s better for students to know what they’ve got right away instead of waiting to find out.
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