Brown and White Vol. 133 no. 19

              The Brown and White Vol. 133 No. 19
Tuesday, November 14, 2017 ‘All the Lehigh News First’
Students encounter registration conflicts
By MARISSA McCLOY
Designer
In the 7 a.m. course registration
contest last spring, Lexi Meisse, ’20,
won herself just six credits.
She was only able to register for a
fraction of the credits required for her
computer engineering major because
several foundational engineering
courses had already reached capacity.
Meisse’s lack of credits stripped her
of being a “full-time student” which
affected her ability to pay tuition.
“It was recommended to me by the
Bursar’s Office to register for random
classes to get the number of credits I
needed so I could pay my bill,” Meisse
said. “Then, later on, I would have to
somehow switch everything back to
the classes I needed.”
Meisse eventually got into one of
the two additional classes she need-ed
during the first week of the fall
semester.
“I think just all engineers in gen-eral
have trouble getting into (gen-eral
education requirement courses)
because of how many of us there are
and the lack of spots and classes,”
she said. “The university hasn’t fixed
anything like that, they just hope
that people just drop or move.”
Meisse’s dilemma is not an isolated
one. Students run into issues with
course registration every semester.
“One challenge is that there are
only so many seats in each class,” said
Anne-Marie Anderson, an associate
professor of finance and the chair of
the Educational Policy Committee.
“The other challenge is the timing of
the courses. You may need to take
two courses that are offered at the
same time.”
Eviction policy could affect off-campus tenants
Photo Illustration by Sarah Epstein/B&W Staff
Sometimes students experience issues registering for courses for the upcoming semester. Many of the issues stem from limited class times
and seating capacities in classrooms throughout campus.
Anderson said upper-level finance
courses, for example, are typically
taken by juniors and seniors, but
seniors could fill all of the seats before
juniors even have the chance to reg-ister.
Allen Taylor, an associate registrar
for technology, said when students
are unable to enroll in courses, they
are often referred back to the depart-ments
offering those courses.
“(The university’s Registrar staff)
do the best we can with the limited
oversight that we have over the reg-istration
process,” Taylor said. “But
we have no ability to add students to
classes that are over capacity.”
Class sections, times and capacities
are determined by the departments
that offer the courses.
Taylor said each department sets
its course schedule and passes it to
the dean of its college. The Registrar
then compiles the course offerings
and assigns classrooms.
The Registrar also provides each
department with information about
course spread and ensures they offer
diverse courses. Taylor said his office
will notify individual departments if
it identifies a common class conflict.
“It may not feel like it initially,
but many of our departments are
quite responsive,” he said. “They do
pay attention to course enrollments,
course waitlists and course loads.”
Taylor said the Registrar is look-ing
to introduce a new registration
system, which might launch in the
spring.
The new interface will incorpo-rate
a calendar format and have
more accessible course descriptions.
See REGISTER Page 2
By LINDSAY SHAGRIN
B&W Staff
A Friday night — music blaring,
students bobbing up and down in an
overcrowded basement — can end
with a knock on an off-campus front
door. Long after the last party-goers
have filed out, South Bethlehem ten-ants
can still be issued citations by
the police.
Off-campus housing isn’t just a
place to live and party. Tenants
must also follow Bethlehem’s evic-tion
and citation ordinances.
“If the police are called and people
are cited at the house — the tenants
of the house are cited three times
for having a disorderly house — we
can force the landlord to evict,” said
Allyson Lehr, the Bethlehem hous-ing
and community development
planner.
According to Bethlehem-PA.gov,
the disruptive conduct ordinance
Patrece Savino/B&W Staff
Students have voiced concerns about off-campus housing and the number of disorderly
house citations that would result in eviction. Some students live in off-campus houses on
Webster Avenue and East Morton Street.
is described as “any form of con-duct,
action, incident or behavior
perpetrated, caused or permitted,
by any occupant or visitor of a reg-ulated
dwelling unit that is a vio-lation
of existing Ordinances of the
City of Bethlehem or statutes of the
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.”
Lehr said when off-campus parties
are busted and a housing citation is
issued, the citation is for the viola-tion
of a disorderly house ordinance.
Only tenants present at the house
when the police arrive are issued
citations.
“You cannot get cited if you’re not
there,” Lehr said.
Lehr said disorderly house ordi-nances
can include noise, public uri-nation,
laying in the streets, yelling
and screaming, fights or “anything
that is really drawing attention to
the house as a disruption to the peo-
See EVICTION Page 2