Students hoping to change their spring course lineups could not access class schedules on Banner Student on Thursday morning, when add-drop period was scheduled to start, due to a computer-related issue that has since been resolved. Students reported being confused, though not exceedingly impacted, by the delay.
The College’s IT staff began addressing the issue when it arose, but the registrar’s office did not know how long it would take for the problem to be fixed, registrar Meredith Braz said in an email. Once the registrar’s office was aware the issue had been resolved, it posted the new time that course change would open on its website.
Students who contacted the registrar’s office about not being able to access their schedules were informed that there had been a slight delay, Braz said.
The add-period was initially slated to begin the morning of Feb. 27. On Thursday morning, however, Banner Student stated that the add-drop period would open Feb. 28.
At noon on Thursday, the office announced that the period would open later that day, at 2 p.m., Braz said.
Some students said they were confused by the delay and were unable to enroll in the classes they wanted.
Ariel Klein ’17 said that after she was unable to access the add-drop function at the original listed times, she checked the Registrar’s website and saw that it would open on Feb. 28. She then learned through a classmate that the start of add-drop had changed to 2 p.m. Thursday.
Klein could not access the site at the exact opening time because she was in class. While Klein was able to enroll in the classes she wanted, she said she would have preferred to receive an email explaining the situation.
She said that freshmen often face difficulty selecting their preferred classes, especially freshman seminars, which are required and whose numbers are limited.
Audyn Curless ’17 said he had heard that the add-drop period normally opens at midnight, so after he noticed that the Registrar changed the date, he assumed the period would begin at midnight.
Curless said he believes the registrar’s office should have waited to open add-drop until it could ensure that students were aware of when the period would begin. He said while he understands that the office may not have known when it would be able to fix its technical difficulties, it could have better scheduled the start.
“I don’t think that it’s a huge problem but there were students who were affected by it,” he said.
Robert Cueva ’17 said that while he did not have difficulties due to technical problems on Banner Student, he has three friends who could not add or drop courses in that instant because they were in afternoon classes. He and others would have been better prepared, he said, if the 2 p.m. add-drop opening had been advertised more widely.
The course change period will remain open until March 7 and reopen again during the first 10 days of spring term.
As an athlete, William Callan ’15 said he receives information from both the registrar and the athletic department, but at times the two sources contradict each other. As a result, he said, when the system was not working he did not know if he had received misinformation or if the computer system was malfunctioning.
Despite technical difficulties, Joseph Miller ’14 said he appreciates that there is a second round for course election.
“It’s nice that even if you don’t get the classes that you want the first time, you still have another chance to look up other classes that you might be able to take and replace the classes that you weren’t able to get,” he said.
The online add-drop system was first introduced in June 2000. Before, students waited in lines outside the registrar’s office to request changes.
Hannah Hye Min Chung contributed reporting.
