In an effort to continue a dialogue between student representatives and administrative officials at Miami University, members of Associated Student Government (ASG) held a meeting with David Sauter, university registrar, before Thanksgiving break to discuss a number of issues related to his office.
The discussion centered around topics including academic advising, priority registration and class withdrawal policy. Sauter informed ASG members of several innovations that the office is working on to improve the registration and scheduling process.
Sauter, who is only in his first full year as Miami University registrar, conceded to student representatives that the Degree Audit Report System (DARS), which keeps students updated on the individual requirements they have not yet fulfilled for graduation, is somewhat difficult to read. He said that the DARS format might be changing at some undisclosed point in the future to include visual aids such as graphs, which will hopefully make the report easier to understand.
"We're working on the next generation of (DARS) now," Sauter said.
Some members of ASG said that the problems with the current system are made evident because some academic advisers, specifically departmental advisers, lack knowledge of the system.
"I've had a number of different academic advisers, and I have found that I still need to know better how to make the classes that I am taking fit with certain parts of requirement plans," said junior Jeremy Harrell, an off-campus senator.
A number of ASG representatives echoed Harrell's sentiments, saying that advisers needed to have a better understanding of the system they are explaining to students.
Sauter also addressed the problems with registration, as several students noted that schedules are not simple to work out.
"We are working on advanced software ... that would help us take into account factors such as the number of classes being offered, the number of students registering and the number of first-years registering so that we can forecast better how matters might turn out," Sauter said in response to some of these concerns.
Sauter went on to address the issue of students "swirling" between the Oxford, Hamilton and Middletown campuses and said that he has been trying to research and see whether any options are available that would allow students to take required classes without having to migrate from campus to campus, such as potentially offering more sections on the Oxford campus.
"I think a lot of people might take a highly desirable class on the Middletown campus, for instance, because they just can't get into it (on the Oxford campus)," suggested senator Anne Towne.
Melonia Bennett, ASG secretary for academic affairs, said that the session with Sauter was beneficial in that it allowed students to make a number of suggestions to Sauter that might improve the current system, and that Sauter seems open to any suggestions or concerns brought to his attention.
"I think a lot of the concerns of academic affairs do not necessarily warrant legislation (in student senate)," Bennett said. "We just need to make people aware of different issues. I look at us as a sort of lobbying committee."
