By Natalie Butz
News Editor
Starting this fall, Washington College students will be required to register for their own classes online. This new policy will not, however, replace students’ advisor meetings.
“The faculty were adamant about that, and I entirely agree with them. They said we do not want to see any system in which the students do not meet with us,” said Associate Provost for Academic Services Patrice DiQuinzio.
Students will not be able to register for next semester’s classes until they have met with their advisors. Advisors will then clear students to access WebAdvisor and they will be able to make their selections.
“We wanted to put in place a safeguard so we didn’t lose the one-on-one advising, and I think that if you’re sitting there with your advisor and your advisor is not typing away looking for classes for you, you actually have a more in-depth conversation that’s not just about next semester, but it’s about your future at large,” said DiQuinzio.
Still, there are some who think students are not ready for the responsibility of planning their own schedules.
“I don’t really know how this is going to work out. There are some students here who can’t even handle doing their own laundry, let alone picking out their classes,” said senior Mary DiAngelo.
But Dean Chris Ames said students that students will have to take on more responsibly.
“I think one of the important goals is to reinforce to students that they are the ones making the ultimate decisions of what they enroll in and they do need to be responsible about that,” said Ames.
Ultimately, both Ames and DiQuinzio think moving the registration system online will beneficial.
“I think that it’ll improve the relationship between student and advisor, it makes students more responsible for actually signing up for classes and it’ll be more efficient in a variety of ways,” said Ames.