As the school year comes to a close, Lawrentians are preparing themselves for one of two things: next year or graduation. It is during these preparations that we run into a problem: the Registrar’s office. The Registrar’s office is one of the most aggravating offices on campus for a number of reasons.
First, the Registrar seems to think it is OK to let graduating seniors know in the middle of spring term that they may not graduate on time. A number of seniors this past fourth- or fifth-week received a notice that they have either not fulfilled a graduation requirement or have too many credits in a certain department and therefore will not be allowed to graduate.
At this point in the term, many seniors already have plans in place — grad schools, jobs, apartments, travel — but now, thanks to the Registrar, a very large wrench has been thrown into those plans. For the Registrar to do this at this point in the term seems like a deliberate attempt to keep these seniors on campus for another term in order to pump them for more money.
While for most seniors the problem can be easily remedied by petitioning, the problem could just as easily be avoided by sending out notices during winter term or earlier.
As for the rest of the student body, registering and picking out classes to fulfill general education requirements can be just as frustrating. While some classes can take care of more than one requirement, others cannot.
How do we know which classes fulfill what? That can be tricky. In most cases we have to ask the Registrar because either advisors don’t know the answers or what is listed in the course catalogue is ambiguous.
The whole process ends up being very frustrating for students during a time when they need to be focusing on midterm exams. The Registrar should make things clearer for students and professors, so come the spring term of senior year, we don’t have to scramble to try to graduate on time.
zStaff Editorial -dew -mts DON’T RUN
