Newspaper Page Text
Clark Atlanta
University
PANTHER
Volume II Number II Atlanta, Georgia August 31, 1990
Chaos, Confusion,
It's Registration Time AgainJ
i
due to mis-routed mail and
By PAULETTE V. WALKER
Editor-in-Chief
It is that time of the year
again — registration. Tradi
tionally, it is a time that Clark
Atlanta University students
have viewed as a necessary evil.
“1 expect to be in line for
quite some time,” groaned
Charronne Pittman, a senior
from West Palm Beach, Fla.
Ms. Pittman didn’t realize that
it would take two days to
complete the process.
Many returning students
have complained that the
registration process has
declined in efficiency this year.
One senior, who transferred to
Georgia State University for
one semester, returned to CAU
to find the progress at a
stalemate. “This year, it (the
registration process) is the
worst it’s been since my
freshman year,” said the
student, who did not wish to be
identified. “At Georgia State,
the process was very simple. All
I had to do was call in my
classes, take care of my
financial obligations and I was
done.”
Franchesta Hall, a transfer
student from Wiley College in
Marshall, Texas had been
trying to register for three days.
“This process has been very
disorganized,” said Ms. Hall. “1
wandered around campus for
two days with absolutely no
intormation — they just kept
sending me to different
stations. 1 love CAU already,
but I am disgusted with the
registration process.”
According to Dr. Frederick
A. Fresh, the director of
enrollment management at
CAU, the Registrar’s Office did
a lot more this summer to
provide the new students with
information.
“All new students were sent
booklets that provided detailed
information on the registration
and enrollment process,” said
Dr. Fresh. “We took a list of
the freshmen that were
accepted and gave it to the
General Education Depart
ment. They made schedules for
the freshmen and as a result,
they were pre-registered before
they arrived.”
As of Tuesday, 980 new
students were registered. “We
were able to register 700 of the
freshmen b e f o r e o f f i c a 1
registration began,” said Dr.
Fresh.
“We want the freshmen to be
familiar with our new method
of registration. We are training
them on the new procedures, so
that for them the registration
process will be more effective in
the future.”
“We encountered a problem
Monday that stemmed from an
error in alphabet control,” said
Dr. Fresh. “1 didn’t realize until
it was too late that A, B, C, and
W, were some of the largest
alphabets represented at CAU.
Tuesday, we eliminated that
problem by issuing appoint
ment cards so that the students
would not have to wait in those
long lines.”
Although many students still
complain that the process is
going down hill, Dr. Fresh
disagrees. He has noticed many
areas of improvement.
“Last Fall, we sent out
evaluation forms,” said Dr.
Fresh. “After reviewing the
results, we re-arranged the
registration process, effective
fall 1990. This new process
allows the students more
control over what happens
when they pre-register for their
classes.”
According to Dr. Fresh, the
problems arose this summer
when students failed to respond
to summer mailings. “This
summer, we sent pre-billing
statements that included
pre-registered schedules to all
students who pre-registered. At
that time, they were to review
the bill, take care of financial
obligations, make any neces
sary changes to their schedules
and send the package back in
the return envelope provided.
Had they done that, they would
have avoided the entire
registration process, including
the lines.”
Not many students had the
foresight or resources to reply
over the summer. According to
the Registrar’s Office, out of
the 1,600 students that
pre-registered, less than 10
took advantage of the summer
registration process.
“Initially, we were going to
use the appointment cards to
register students this year, but
that method would have
required us to extend the
registration process,” said Dr.
Fresh. “If more students had
taken advantage of our
summer registration proce
dure, we would have had to
deal with no more that 600
students with special
situations.”
Despite the efforts to smooth
the way for prepared students,
there are still some glitches in
the system. Many students,
whose tuition was covered by
scholarships, loans, or tuition
waivers, still had to endure long
waits in the financial aid line
before registering. According
the Dr. Fresh, these students
may have had problems
resulting from an incomplete
financial aid file.
“What we experience as we
change our policies and
procedures is that some
individuals will continue to
operate on past procedures,”
said Dr. Fresh. “We sent out
mailings to encourage students
to participate in the new
process. We realize that some
folks won’t get their mailings
such. But the only students who
should be registering this week
are those who need adjust
ments."
Pre-registering and taking
care of financial obligations
early is the key to eliminating
the stress of registration.
“Pre-registering also gives the
academic deans an opportunity
to assess whether more classes
are needed, or some courses
need to be dropped, etc.,” said
Dr. Fresh.
What about telephone and
computer registration?
“The registrars in the AUC
meet regularly to discuss new
registration technicques,” said
Dr. Fresh. “We are all aware of
the advantages of employing
telephone and computerized
registration, but in order to do
that, you need resources. Right
now, it is a matter of when it
will become a priority.
Telephone registration is
competing with library needs,
building dormitories and other
things that we are trying to
accomplish. I don’t think
telephone registration is far off,
it’s just a matter of when its
turn will come up.”
It may seem that registration
will never be a pleasant process,
but Dr. Fresh feels that there
are brighter days ahead.
“Don’t despair! we are
working with you. The success
of this process requires a team
effort.”
PHOTO BY RODNEY S. MATHEWS
New Science Building Catches Fire
By VANESSA CROCKETT
Lifestyle Editor
Sparks from a welding torch was the apparent cause of a fire
that broke out on the top floor of the CAU's Research Center
for Science and Technology Thursday afternoon, according to
fire officials. The blaze in the $36 million building which is now
under construction was brought under control in about 20
minutes.
Students, faculty and staff fought back the heavy smoke as
they curiously watched the firefighters battle the flames.
The unofficial report from Getchell Caldwell, Vice-President
for Development, was that workers were doing some roofing
and miscellaneous steel work which perhaps caused the fire.
According to Tom Perrin, Fire Chief of the Atlanta Fire
Department, “The fire ignited while workers were doing some
work which involved polyurethane.”
“There is an arson investigation to ascertain cause of the
fire,” said Perrin.
An arson investigation is routine and there was no cause for
alarm, he added. It was probably caused by the welding going
on at the time.
Although the firemen faced the problem of getting to the top
of the building, they were able to safely evacuate everyone
without injuries.
The estimated amount of damage was not available at this
time. However, the structural damage appeared to be at a
minimum.
The building, which has not been named, will house Arts &
Science students and is still expected to be completed in 1992.