Some students with priority enrollment did not get as much of a
priority as they would have liked this past week.
To assure that seniors will graduate on time, the economics
department closed all of its classes for priority enrollment so
seniors would get first priority instead.
“We’ve been having trouble with our seniors
graduating on time,” said Sandy Levin, an undergraduate
adviser in the economics department.
The economics department is not the only department to
manipulate enrollment so that students can get the courses they
need to graduate.
“The idea of holding enrollment in courses or limiting
enrollment to certain restrictions such as major requirements is
very common,” said Harlan Lebo, a spokesman for the College
of Letters & Science. “It is routinely done.”
If there are no restrictions, students with priority enrollment
are given a chance to enlist in their classes before anyone else.
This results in freshmen being able to pick their classes before
the majority of seniors can. In some cases, classes that seniors
need to graduate are filled before they have a chance to
enroll.
The department sent out two e-mails to students in the economics
major, but students who are not associated with the economics
department did not receive the e-mails.
This caused Jaisha Wray, a fourth-year political science
student, to be puzzled over enrollment.
“I was very confused,” she said. Upon attempting to
enroll in her course, she realized it was unavailable.
“I am hoping that I will still get my class, even though I
was not able to enroll initially,” she said.
Wray added that, though she is not majoring in economics, she
still needs to take some of the department’s courses as
requirements for her graduate program.
While the change in enrollment practices had negative
consequences for some students, most students agreed that the
economics department acted responsibly by allowing seniors to
enroll in classes before anyone else.
“We need those classes to graduate,” said Robin
Swab, a fourth-year business-economics student.
“Since the economics department has cut back a lot of
courses, it makes sense that (it) would initially limit
enrollment,” she added.