Faculty Council OKs priority registration
By: Whitney Kisling, University Editor
Issue date: 1/9/08 Section: University
A new priority registration system will go into effect next semester, giving some students, particularly athletes, the chance to register before their classmates.
The Faculty Council approved the new system at its December meeting, despite a petition signed by about 650 students.
With the new system, groups of students can be recommended for early registration. They must be approved by a committee, which University Registrar Alice Poehls will lead.
"Nobody is automatic at this point," Poehls said. "Each request will be dealt with individually."
The students must meet certain standards, such as participation in a University-sponsored activity that requires specific scheduling.
Student varsity athletes fit best into the standards that will need to be met.
"They are the group that probably will be affected quite a bit, but there are other groups that we talked about, as well," Poehls said, noting other groups as students with disabilities.
The new system will begin to get off the ground within the next two weeks as Poehls assembles the committee of students and faculty members. The committee will be approved by the education policy committee.
Poehls said she also is in the process of creating the form that will need to be filled out to be considered.
Each class will set aside no more than 15 percent of its seats for priority registration. And Steve Reznick, professor of psychology and the chairman of the task force that created the priority registration proposal, said the goal is to allow just 5 percent to 10 percent of the student population to register early.
"There has to be a trade-off where you don't give priority registration to everybody, but you set the standard such that there is a small group that receives it," he said.
Student leaders said they protested the new system because it doesn't have enough supporting evidence.
"Our position on it sort of evolved over time, and we eventually opposed it," said Student Body Vice President Mike Tarrant, who spoke at the council meeting.
In an informational e-mail to the student body last month, the executive branch of student government took a stance against the proposed system, stating that it didn't support an "egalitarian culture" at UNC.
Before the new system was passed, the University already was abiding by a priority registration - just unofficially.
"We don't have a flat registration system; we give priority," Reznick said, noting that deans could recommend students for early registration through memos and unofficial requests.
"Once you start giving some people a place in the line ahead of others, you create some issues."
While officials will continue to evaluate the new system each semester, it will be officially reviewed after four years.
"This is an experiment," Reznick said. "It was designed to be very open and adjustable and adjusted."
Contact the University Editor at udesk@unc.edu.
The Faculty Council approved the new system at its December meeting, despite a petition signed by about 650 students.
With the new system, groups of students can be recommended for early registration. They must be approved by a committee, which University Registrar Alice Poehls will lead.
"Nobody is automatic at this point," Poehls said. "Each request will be dealt with individually."
The students must meet certain standards, such as participation in a University-sponsored activity that requires specific scheduling.
Student varsity athletes fit best into the standards that will need to be met.
"They are the group that probably will be affected quite a bit, but there are other groups that we talked about, as well," Poehls said, noting other groups as students with disabilities.
The new system will begin to get off the ground within the next two weeks as Poehls assembles the committee of students and faculty members. The committee will be approved by the education policy committee.
Poehls said she also is in the process of creating the form that will need to be filled out to be considered.
Each class will set aside no more than 15 percent of its seats for priority registration. And Steve Reznick, professor of psychology and the chairman of the task force that created the priority registration proposal, said the goal is to allow just 5 percent to 10 percent of the student population to register early.
"There has to be a trade-off where you don't give priority registration to everybody, but you set the standard such that there is a small group that receives it," he said.
Student leaders said they protested the new system because it doesn't have enough supporting evidence.
"Our position on it sort of evolved over time, and we eventually opposed it," said Student Body Vice President Mike Tarrant, who spoke at the council meeting.
In an informational e-mail to the student body last month, the executive branch of student government took a stance against the proposed system, stating that it didn't support an "egalitarian culture" at UNC.
Before the new system was passed, the University already was abiding by a priority registration - just unofficially.
"We don't have a flat registration system; we give priority," Reznick said, noting that deans could recommend students for early registration through memos and unofficial requests.
"Once you start giving some people a place in the line ahead of others, you create some issues."
While officials will continue to evaluate the new system each semester, it will be officially reviewed after four years.
"This is an experiment," Reznick said. "It was designed to be very open and adjustable and adjusted."
Contact the University Editor at udesk@unc.edu.
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