Ongoing registration woes

As grudgingly as any Columbia student confronts a new semester, one would at least hope we had enough time to mentally prepare during winter break in order to ease smoothly back into the brisk tempo of college life. But when so many students constantly refresh Courseworks only to find blank class “Intro” pages, it’s understandable why so many of us go back to school grudgingly—when professors fail to give us even basic information about a class’s scope, expectations, or necessary textbooks, unnecessary mental and financial burdens mar the beginning of our semester.

Adding to this frustration is the fact that Columbia’s shopping period exists only in theory, not in practice. It is often not until the first day of class that professors give us the syllabus, yet by the second day they expect us to have finished a dozen or so pages of readings, or have started on the first problem set. Hypothetically, students can add a class by the end of the second week but chances are no one will add a class this late and face lagging behind. Although CCSC has made commendable efforts to increase the availability of course information before registration times, enforcement measures fall short. If professors then neglect to provide information, we are left feeling anxious at not knowing what to expect.

Ultimately, professors should be held accountable. As the arbiters of our grades, they are the ones who decide whether that final will be worth 40 percent or whether they will even give a final. As students, we have the right to know beforehand what we can expect from a class. Otherwise, we blindly register for classes without enough time to make an informed decision about our educations before assignments pile up.

This right is also a legal right. In 2008, the Higher Education Opportunity Act was modified to include that all professors should post ISBN numbers and textbook prices before course registration. So whether a student needs a stoichiometry manual for general chemistry or a tower of books about a variety of isms, every Courseworks should indicate that before we even set foot in the classroom. When we know in advances which classes we’ll take, we can order our books both ahead of time and at cheaper prices. This way, we can avoid the stress of long lines at the bookstore and the financial burden of overpriced materials.

Every professor should be accountable to both this law and to students. The very least he or she can do is provide a provisional syllabus consisting of basic requirements like papers with page counts and weekly readings—sometimes, course descriptions are not enough. Syllabuses presumably require departmental approval, so they must exist weeks in advance—yet many professors fail to post them ahead of time. Even if they can’t give the specifics on every deadline and assignment, they should at least provide the bare minimum. Every informed decision made with enough time keeps students from getting caught up in the start-of-semester madness.