Freshman registration windows delayed due to glitch

The majority of the freshmen class has had their registration window pushed back to accommodate a glitch in the system—the second time this year that technical difficulties have prompted changes to the registration process.

The second registration window for freshmen was originally scheduled to open at 7 a.m. Thursday, with the third window set for 7 a.m. Friday. But a glitch caused both windows to open unexpectedly at midnight Thursday—causing panic among some freshmen who were unprepared to register. In response, the registrar's office has cleared all enrollment by second- and third-window freshmen that occurred from midnight to 7 a.m. Thursday and pushed each window back by one weekday.

The glitch is partially linked to the problems that occurred with senior registration two weeks ago, University Registrar Bruce Cunningham said. After a student-written program that allows automatic registration contributed to system errors, the registrar's office decided to redo senior registration and push all other registration windows back by two days. Juniors and sophomores registered without incident—but a glitch in the system caused the freshmen's second and third windows to open early.

"When we changed the windows we adjusted the window settings...and tested those adjustments," Cunningham wrote in an email Thursday. "Unfortunately, there was an additional setting, which under normal circumstances wouldn’t be applicable, that caused the early opening of the windows this morning."

Second- and third-window freshmen were informed by the registrar Thursday afternoon that their windows were being rescheduled. The announcement came after speculation and concern from freshmen on social media—and some East Campus panic early Thursday morning.

“Basically my friend came screaming down the hall that he just successfully registered for some reason,” freshman Robert Steilberg said of discovering registration was open, The Chronicle previously reported. “After I realized this and tried to register, I saw that I didn't get into the [computer science] class that I had bookbagged. So then I realized that all the freshmen assigned to the third window were allowed to enroll, thus giving an unfair advantage over those of us in second window who had to be in third window last semester.”

The registrar's office became aware of the problem early Thursday morning when they were preparing to monitor the scheduled 7 a.m. window, Cunningham said.

Second-window freshmen will now register Friday, and third-window will register Monday. In addition to pushing back the windows, the registrar's office has also restored bookbags to what they were at 6:30 a.m. Thursday.