Thousands of Southwestern College students were dropped from their spring classes following a series of technical and administrative breakdowns that have further roiled campus.
Students were dropped by the recently-modified WebAdvisor system for non-payment of registration fees following a series of rule changes and computer difficulties, according to college administrators.
With class offerings at a record low and students vying for limited seating at an all-time high, students and faculty expressed disbelief and anger over the mid-semester meltdown.
Online registration has become the most common way to register for classes and has been marketed fervently by the college in recent years. After signing up for classes online students traditionally had five business days to pay for them, either online or, more commonly, in person at the cashiers counter in the Cesar Chavez One-Stop Center.
Earlier this semester the college shortened the payment period to five calendar days, regardless of weekends and holidays. Though most registration information is posted on-line, the information about the new payment policy was not. It was mentioned in the print version of the SWC catalogue, which the college is discontinuing after this semester, but said only "fees are due five days after registration."
But Lilian Rodriguez, 21, a sociology major, and scores of other students reported they were dropped after only four calendar days, often shortly after midnight. Rodriguez's case is typical, she registered on Wed. Nov. 11 and was dropped the following Sunday.
"I couldn't believe it," she said. "I never knew they changed it from five business days to calendar days. They couldn't help me, they just said they dropped me for non-payment when I already paid."
Rodriguez said she already sent out her university applications never anticipating she might not be able to take the SWC classes she needed to transfer.
Steven Bossi, director of computer systems and services, said in the first week of registration about 6,600 students signed up for spring classes.
The stampede created registration complications that began with an overmatched WebAdvisor portal that only allowed 300 students to be logged on at one time, he said. The resulting bottleneck created a cascade of problems.
"The system was hammered," Bossi said.
Dr. Angelica Suarez, vice president of student affairs, said CSS found the problem.
"Sure enough there was a glitch in the system and they did correct it yesterday," said Suarez on Nov. 18, two weeks after the start of registration. "We're doing the best we can to find the classes for dropped students and reinstate those that we can. If their classes are not available, we're looking for alternative classes."
Dr. Cidhinnia Torres Campos, dean of research, evaluation and planning, said changes are on the way.
"We are buying new hardware, we are reviewing our license allocations and we are also looking at what the benefits would be for getting more licenses," she said.
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