Registration Fiasco Causes Headaches for Students

New Computer System Is Ready for Spring but Bureaucracy Isn't

by Hank Williams

City College's change to a new computerized Student Information Management System, known by the acronym SIMS, made registration and other relatively simple tasks-such as getting ID cards-a nightmare for students. The problem appears to be not so much the system itself, but the way it was installed.

SIMS should be much more reliable than the old system it replaces and will eventually allow conveniences like registration by telephone, as is done at Baruch and Hunter, and will give advisors better access to student information. Also necessary was the replacement of a computer system that, while upgraded, dated back to the 1970s. As one source told The Messenger, the college "had to replace the old system: it was about to fall apart at any moment."

The real problem was poor planning and implementation. Registration was delayed until January because the new system was not running in time to register seniors and juniors in December, as the college normally does. At the end of the fall semester, students had still not been told exactly what the registration procedure would be, except to go to the college after January 10th if they had not heard anything.

The result was long lines and short tempers for students forced to wait hours for registration and even ID cards. Making matters worse was the fact that not all of the computer operators were familiar with the system, creating confusion.

Bernard Cistrunk, a Communications major, complained that his records, when accessed on the new system, incorrectly showed that he had been dismissed from the college.

The worst is probably over, but one still has to be critical of the ham-fisted implementation that caused needless frustration and inconvenience to many students.