The Michigan Student Assembly will work with the University to
make registration more fair for students after passing a resolution
last night in favor of revising the process of how students pick
classes.
Currently, students are placed in seven brackets, depending on
their number of credits. Each bracket covers a range of 15 credits.
For example, all students who currently have between 70 and 84
credits would place into the third bracket. Within each bracket,
students then participate in a lottery for a registration date to
choose courses for the next semester.
The newly proposed registration process would create more
brackets, lowering each range from 15 to five credits, and would
help guarantee students a registration appointment that better
reflects their academic standing, representatives said.
MSA has received complaints about the present lottery system.
Problems included some students registering on the same day as
others with many fewer credits.
Several representatives raised concerns with the resolution. MSA
Vice President Monique Perry said shortening the brackets will
heighten the disparity among students.
MSA Communications Committee Chair Rachel Fisher, an LSA senior,
added that many high schools do not offer any Advanced Placement
classes that give students extra credits. Reducing the brackets
exacerbates the problem of unfairness, she added.
Proponents of the resolution researched other schools that had
limited brackets.
“Northwestern only has five-credit brackets,” MSA
Rep. Anita Leung said. The resolution is not about the AP credit
problem but about the registration brackets, which would put
registering on a more even playing field, added Leung.
But Rep. Sam Woll asserted that the University is different from
such schools because of its student body’s unique
composition.
Other University student governments have already passed the
registration resolution.
“LSA is the largest school on campus and (the LSA Student
Government) passed it,” Rep. Daniel Edelman said. “The
Engineering school is the second largest school and has passed the
resolution too.
Some representatives said they wanted the assembly to delay
voting on the resolution to allow for further research on the
effects of the bracket reduction on students.
“I would like us to do more research on our school and
look at the average range of students coming in with AP credits
here,” Rep. Ashley Whitfield said. “I feel that we
shouldn’t be pressured by the time limit.”