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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.