Course Catalog Is Insufficient

To the Editors:

When I first picked up the 2002-2003 Course Catalog I was bedazzled by its crisp scent and charming green color. Finally, I thought, we have a catalog that reflects the verdant quality of this vibrant institution. My joy, however, was short-lived.
The decision to remove the times from the course catalog was remarkably clever. I ask you, can the Registrar make it any more difficult to register for courses? Already, the two different access numbers (and the Notorious R.A.P.), along with PRESTO and the course supplement flummox most students well enough.
Therefore, I propose that the College hang chiseled stone tablets from the Wilder porch in place of those blasted fabric signs. On them will be inscribed the names of the courses, in Latin, without, of course, the name of the instructor, the time, the place, the number of credits, the course number or course description. A brief description (one word, each course ‘description’ scribed in a different language) should suffice.
And this should be only the beginning. Why is our R.A.P. so short? And why do we only have two numbers we need to enter to get into the system — we’re just asking for a security breach, if you ask me. If credit card companies handle sixteen digit numbers, why can’t we? Everyone seems to be doing it these days. I propose that each of the digits be obtained from each of sixteen different deans (this will encourage much-needed dialogue between students and their deans and allow Conservatory students to meet College deans and vice versa). Already, if one has three majors, the student has to get two digits from each of their three advisors — why not enable everyone to avail themselves of this wonderful opportunity?
And Instructor’s Consent? Holy smokes! Do you suppose that the instructor has enough knowledge of a student’s abilities to take a class without having full access to the student’s transcript? A formal review board (on which should sit the score of illustrious deans) should decide who can and cannot take upper-level electives. They should interview the student’s associates and ensure that the student doesn’t have any nefarious skeletons in their academic closet. And once consent is given, it should only be entered into the system one hour of each month (or only on leap years, if that makes it any easier), because doing it so frequently is slowing the system down.
Let me say in closing that I do not blame the Registrar for this change, because I think that the Registrar’s office has gone understaffed for too long and that this is a needed rebuke to an administration that has more deans than children but cannot afford to have more than a handful of professional staff in one of the most vital offices in the institution. Were there not a Registrar’s office, there would be no classes; classes could neither meet nor be scheduled. But I must also say, it was rather vulpine of the Registrar to concurrently stop printing the course supplement when they decided to remove the times from the catalog.
For God’s sake, don’t remove anything else from the catalog. But please, pretty please, give us back our times.

–John Byrne
College junior