OUR VIEWS Consensus Opinion

Priority realignment

The proposal set forth by the ad hoc committee of administrators and student representatives on the priority registration system has the potential to greatly simplify an registration process that is often complex, somewhat arbitrary, and at times unjust, into a process that is fair and transparent.

Priority registration, has been a cankerous topic on campus, especially come registration time and especially amongst those who don’t have it. The topic of frequent discussion is why some voluntary extracurricular activities can award the members with priority registration, while other, equally demanding and meaningful extracurricular activities can’t. While most groups claim to have an actual need for priority registration so that members can schedule around obligatory time commitments, in reality the distinction is often given as an incentive to join. The slippery slope comes from the fact that all organizations have certain time obligations—who is to say which obligations are more urgent, rigid or important than others?

The number of organizations and activities wanting to get a piece of the priority registration pie is so great that currently approximately 10 percent of the student body has priority registration. And if all pending organizations are approved, that number would at least double.

When such a large number of students have the priority registration advantage, it almost becomes a disadvantage not to have it, causing the dispute between the haves and the have-nots that much more bitter.

The committee’s proposal will effectively eliminate such problems by ending all perk-based awarding of priority registration and limiting the distinction to need-based groups only, such as handicapped students and in-season athletes. To further help ease the transition, the proposal will allow current recipients of priority registration to keep that distinction until the end of next year, or graduation, depending on how each group advertised their priority registration statues.

This seems the most best way to fix the problems related to the priority registration program, with fairness and without picking who’s “more important” or stepping on anyone’s toes.

To further simplify the entire registration process, the registrar’s office should considering implementing more standard procedures across majors when it comes to reserving certain classes for people of each major. A major-only registration phase for all departments would help students of all majors get the classes in their department that are necessary for graduation, instead of having to compete with students from outside majors looking for a fun elective.

Consensus editorials reflect the majority opinion of the Editorial Board of the Technique, but not necessarily the opinions of individual editors.