Whitman College has consistently ranked among the top 20 list of the Princeton Review’s schools that “run like butter.” For the most part, The Pioneer agrees. We appreciate that when we have a problem, there is almost always a patient individual willing to help us. As the sophomore class passed last week’s deadline to declare a major, and students of all years plan their schedules, the Office of the Registrar was, as always, informative and efficient: and, let’s be honest, who doesn’t love Rob Urban?
However, aside from the helpful staff, we have a pressing concern with Whitman’s registration process. We believe it contains significant flaws that result in uncertainty about earning credits and can make major planning difficult, sometimes impossible.
In the current system, the college catalogue lists only the classes that will be offered during the spring and fall semesters of an academic year. Students must choose these classes without any guarantee of what will be available the following semesters. Although it is true that some classes are noted as “offered in alternate years,” most classes are not marked at all in terms of how often they occur. Other classes are misleadingly marked as “Not offered in 09-10.,” giving students the impression that the class will be offered the following year, which is oftentimes not the case.
We understand that it is difficult for professors to say with certainty which classes they will offer every year for four years. But other schools, like Lewis and Clark in Portland, Ore., have a better solution to this dilemma than Whitman does: Lewis and Clark notes every class’s frequency next to its description (“Offered annually,” “Offered in alternate years,” etc.). Some schools even project a four-year schedule. Seattle Pacific University, which is comparable in size to Whitman, does not project a four-year schedule, but rather its individual departments e-mail students their projected curricula for the next couple of years.
It is already difficult enough to map out four years’ worth of classes, but when course offerings vary from year to year and semester to semester, it becomes tedious and frustrating. Students who go abroad or take time off are particularly affected.
A Whitman sophomore, who wished to remain anonymous, had planned to go abroad in the spring, but due to scheduling conflicts (classes that were offered only one semester and conflicting times), she must be on campus in the spring to take classes she needs to graduate. Since the deadline for fall study abroad applications has passed, this student will now be unable to study abroad. Unfortunately, we have heard versions of this same story from multiple people.
We understand that registration is a pain for many members of the Whitman community, not just students. We realize, too, that there is no perfect solution. We know that the college is not trying to make it difficult on students. But the fact remains that the registration process is inconvenient and sometimes causes student crises that could be avoided if course projections were offered for more than one year at a time, or, at the very least, if the weekly schedule times were made available sooner. The goal of a liberal arts institution is to promote academic exploration and diverse educational opportunities, which includes study abroad. The current registration process is severely limiting students’ academic experience. It is time to reevaluate the system.
