In the era of budget cuts, students welcome the reinstatement of services which once had been taken away.
The University Provost's Office recently decided to re-offer paper publication of the Course Offering Directory which had initially been eliminated as a budget cutting measure in early October.
"We are printing a limited number of copies because we were made aware by Student Council that some students preferred to flip through the paper copy, even though the material on the Web is far more up to date," said Shirley Menaker, associate provost for academic support and classroom management.
Council President Micah Schwartz contacted Menaker in response to concern expressed by Council members and other students.
"I think the print copies of the Course Offering Directory provide a service the online version cannot," Schwartz said. The print copy "allows you to browse more easily and see the full course offering in a way you can't online."
The Registrar's Office, which reports to the Provost's Office, deals with the logistics of the Course Offering Directory and other services.
Copies of the Course Offering Directory will be available today at central locations on Grounds such as Newcomb Hall. The Registrar's Office decided to print 5,000 copies as compared to the 10,000 they typically offer.
"We've always had many of them left over," Menaker said.
The 5,000 copies will come at a cost of about 75 cents a copy incurring a total expense of about $3,750. The money will come out of the Registrar's budget.
"We were going to charge [students], that was the initial idea," Menaker said.
But, following the announcement of a proposed tuition-surcharge, the Registrar's Office decided not to impose a $1 fee on students who wished to obtain a print copy of the Course Offering Directory.
Students differ in opinion over the necessity of a print copy of the Course Offering Directory.
"I think the print copies are a great resource initially when you are flipping through trying to get ideas for classes," second-year College student Abby Smith said.
Second-year College student Dan Comstock disagrees.
"The print copies are useless," Comstock said. "I never got one. The online directory serves all the necessary purposes for finding what classes you want to take."
ISIS phone line
In accordance with a previous announcement, the University no longer will offer telephone access to the Integrated Student Information System, but its elimination is not directly related to the budget cuts.
"It was a fairly antiquated technology which the vendor no longer supported," said Wynne Stewart, assistant provost for classroom management and academic support.
"This technology for the phone lines was very old, and if it failed at any time, we could not fix it," Stewart said. "Instead of an embarrassing death, we gave it a proper burial."
Student demand for the phone system decreased dramatically following the introduction of ISIS Online in the fall of 1999.
Over the past several years, the phone system was gradually phased out, decreasing from 128 phone lines to 64 lines and finally to only 32 phone lines in the last year.
All students have access to the Internet at the University through libraries, but it remains to be seen how severely students without Internet access at their homes will be affected.
Students without Internet access, over the summer for example, will have to look for other means by which to register for classes online, such as public libraries.
"The majority of our population is in state and the vast majority of those students have access to Internet through local and regional public libraries," Stewart said.
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