Registration for spring courses started this week in the midst of a major restructuring at the college.
The advising office is still dealing with layoffs and resignations from the summer.
Students did not report problems with getting into the system to register, which has plagued registration week in the past, as the Chronicle previously reported. Spring registration also was delayed because of curriculum changes.
But additional changes at the college, including the reduction of the core requirements from 42 to 30 credits, students said they needed more advising help this time.
Hosted by Sydney Richardson. Written by Sydney Richardson. Additional reporting by Araceli Ramirez, Gavin Lipinski, Trinity Balboa, Lily Thomas and Greer Stewart.
TRANSCRIPT
0:08: Welcome to Chronicle Chronversations.
0:10: I’m your guest host, Sydney Richardson.
0:15: Registration for the spring semester opened on Monday.
0:19: Students will be able to register for classes at their assigned times and academic advisors will be holding drop-in sessions throughout the week. In their efforts to mitigate the budget deficit,
0:31: The college has reduced the number of course offerings and the number of core credits required to graduate. Layoffs have also resulted in a smaller academic advising staff.
0:43: We ask students about their experience registering for classes and if they’ve been able to access help from an advisor.
0:53: My name is Laura Pratt. My major is interior architecture and I’m a junior.
0:55: I emailed my advisor, I think, I don’t even know what his name is anymore because we, we get for our major.
1:02: It gets changed like, so like easily that I don’t even know like who I’m supposed to be emailing right now.
1:08: But I think his name is Dave and I emailed him a couple of weeks, a few days ago and I still have not gotten any information from him.
1:14: So I don’t know what’s going on.
1:16: Have you?
1:17: He’s not with me.
1:18: Who am I emailing?
1:20: Jesus Christ.
1:21: I don’t know who I’m emailing anymore.
1:23: I’m Abigail Pajeau.
1:25: I’m an illustration major and I’m a junior, but this is my first semester at Columbia.
1:30: , the process has been pretty smooth.
1:31: It’s a little nerve-wracking.
1:33: But I’m excited because I’m excited to take classes for my major.
1:37: The last time I talked to my counselor was before I registered for fall.
1:41: And since then I have not talked to her.
1:43: I just feel pretty confident with like viewing my audit and like viewing the requirements for my major where I don’t feel like I have to at this time.
1:52: But if I have any questions, I know where to reach her.
1:54: So Marcelina Perez, my major is interior architecture.
2:00: And then I’m a junior.
2:01: I have to go to the head of the interior architecture board to figure out questions, but that’s literally with anything, and I never know who to email if I have a question about which courses I need to take.
2:13: Like, I literally had to go to Renee King to figure out if I’m still on my right path.
2:19: I have no trust with Colombia.
2:20: I don’t even know.
2:21: Like, it’s like a funny joke to the outside world too.
2:25: Like, ha ha.
2:25: Like Colombia is gonna close down.
2:28: It’s like, is my major even gonna matter?
2:29: Like I have no trust but that’s like within this past year that that’s why, so.
2:39 The Chronicles, Greer Stewart and Lily Thomas went to the advising office and to the registration website to see how students have been instructed to reach an academic advisor during registration week.
2:52: So we went to the college advising center and we were given these printed-out schedules that were supposed to be on this website, right?
3:03: Is that what she had said they’re supposed to be on the website, but we cannot find that.
3:08: So we have them printed here that a list of all the counselors that are provided for drop-ins.
3:15: And we also have a little QR code that says college advising and registration rush drop-ins, which is from November 11th to November 15th.
3:25: Supposedly, it’s supposed to be from 9 to 5 p.m. Zoom only, no appointment needed.
3:30: So when you scan the QR code, it takes you to Zoom and then it will put you into a Zoom meeting.
3:41: I’m currently in the waiting room.
3:43: It’s 12:06 right now and I’m in the waiting room right now.
3:47: The little QR code for the drop-in links,
3:50: It does say expect a brief wait time due to high demand.
3:55: We’ve currently been waiting for seven minutes now, just about seven minutes and we are still just in the Zoom like the little waiting room.
4:07: I’m just really confused with the website because if, I can’t really tell, like if the person that they have is like the full-time advisor or if they’re just interim until we have a long-term advisor.
4:24: So like there’s multiple gaps when you go to the advising teams where they have like, oh, this person is in charge of school and film and television or they’re in charge of school of design and then when you scroll underneath them, it says the position is vacant.
4:41: So it makes you think, does this person still work in this position?
4:45: Are they just temporarily here?
4:47: Are they the only person that I can reach out to?
4:50: And what other options would I have if they’re not available?
4:55: Because they don’t have anything here for that.
4:57: We are still waiting in the waiting room.
5:04: It’s been 18 minutes at this point.
5:07: I have a thing in the chat that says for those of you waiting to meet with Hannah, she’s currently maxed out on students today.
5:13: Please reach out to her via email.
5:15: She will be checking emails after drop-ins.
5:17: If you have general questions, feel free to stay in the waiting room, otherwise you will not be able to meet with Hannah today.
5:24: Thank you and we apologize for the inconvenience.
5:32: I’m Sydney Richardson.
5:33: Thanks for listening to Chronicle Chronversations.
Copy Edited by Vanessa Orozco
