The Web site through which many College students were supposed to obtain their access codes for course registration was taken offline Nov. 7, causing difficulties for some students who were supposed to register earlier this week.
“What happened was that on Friday we identified a security vulnerability and promptly shut it down,” said Mike McPherson, associate vice president and deputy chief information officer. He noted that Information Technology & Communication officials were concerned the vulnerability could have led to a leak of important information.
Since taking these precautions, “we determined that there is no evidence that data has been improperly released,” McPherson said, adding that “there has been no exposure ... but the system is down for now.”
Directors of undergraduate studies and department chairs within the College received word of the shutdown through an e-mail sent by Rachel Most, assistant College dean and director of advising, explained Ron Michener, economics department director of undergraduate studies.
Michener said when he received this e-mail, he obtained a “hard copy of advising codes for the majors” from the registrar and sent an e-mail to students to inform them that if they were economics majors and could not access their codes any other way, they could call and receive their codes after verifying the last four digits of their Social Security number. Michener explained that “the issue is making sure the person is who they say they are.”
Jessica Feldman, English Department director of undergraduate studies, said access codes are available to students who take initiative.
“While it’s been a frustration for students, everyone who has sought the information has gotten it,” she said.
Neither director had heard any word of when the problem may be fixed.
“We are working to get students their codes, but I don’t know if the site will open up again,” Assoc. College Dean Richard Handler said. In general, “we’re not happy,” he said.
Some students also expressed discontent about the technical difficulties.
Third-year College student Christine Johnson received an e-mail with a link to receive her registration code but did not look at it right away. When she did click the link, it took her to a page that stated that the Web site was unavailable.
“I thought it was just me,” Johnson said. “I didn’t know it was a problem that was ubiquitous.”
When her adviser could not send her code, she had to go to the English undergraduate office.
“It was a little stressful,” Johnson added. “I didn’t want to be unable to sign up for classes.”
Third-year College student Leanne Ryan experienced similar problems in accessing her code.
“I got [my code] a while ago for my economics major,” Ryan explained, noting that “at first it worked, then something malfunctioned.”
Ryan noted, however, that she wrote down the code upon first receiving it and is confident that she will be able to register.
Students, however, are not the only members of the University having problems with the registration system.
Handler pointed out that with the Web site down, advisers are also unable to access students’ codes unless they already created a hard copy.
Advisers’ sudden lack of access to the codes online created problems for some students.
“If the advisers didn’t send [the codes] out by Friday, [the students] had no access to them,” Handler explained. There were few of these cases, though, because most advisers sent out the information earlier, he said. “The only [students] who are having trouble are the ones who didn’t bother to open their e-mail,” he added.
For those students who did miss their registration time or did not preserve a hard copy of their registration code, alternative ways of accessing the Integrated Student Information System are available. These methods differ based on whether or not a student has declared his or her major.
“If non-majors don’t have [their code], they can bring a printed copy of the e-mail that the advisor sent to them to Garrett Hall and a staff member can release the same registration code,” Asst. College Prof. Mary Stegmaier said. “Majors who do not have an advising code should see the major department’s administrative assistant for the registration code. If a student is unable to get code from their major department, [they should] bring some sheet signed by the [administrative assistant of the] department that indicates that our office can release the code.”
She noted that students with two majors only need one registration code, which they can obtain from either of their departments.
Though problems exist with the current registration process, Handler noted the difficulties will not remain when the University switches to a new system in 2009 called the Student Information System. Until then, Handler said students in the College who need their access codes should see their association deans in Garrett Hall as soon as possible.
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