Crank it up, Honors College

Few people would argue the technological prowess of the IU campus. There are T1 lines in the dorms, thousands of accessible computers, even adaptive technology for disabled users. No sir, IU isn't lacking in the virtual world.\nBut these marvels aren't IU's only technological accomplishments. The Honors College, in preparation for upcoming class authorizations, outfitted its highly-trained staff with the latest in data-processing technology. They spared no expense to ensure the fastest turn-around possible for registering students. On the night of Oct. 22, a final check was run throughout the building to make sure all systems were "go" for the next day's onslaught.\n8:30 a.m., Oct. 23, 2003 -- I arrived on the scene late, and the doors were already wide open. As I cruised past the red-brick building on the corner of Seventh Street and Jordan Avenue, I saw a line of chilled overachievers stretching out the screen door, down the driveway, onto the sidewalk and around the stone wall to the first "No Parking" sign that decorates the crescent drive outside Wright Quad. Confident in the capabilities of the Honors College, I only fed two quarters into the meter outside of the Main Library. "That will be plenty of time," I said to myself.\nI walked with purpose to the end of the line, cheery with the thought of a quick return to my bed. My thin, orange pajama pants flowed in the wind. I glanced up and found the "No Parking" sign keeping me company to my left. Ten minutes later, I looked up again. It was still there.\nA friend and I re-created the queue later that week. Assuming it was single file, 160 students separated me from the door.\nWhat was holding up the line? Don't students know what classes they want? Surely it can't be a technological problem. UITS technicians are much too deft with wires and CPUs for that.\nTick. Tick. Tick. A new sidewalk square. This is a change. We advanced like this for an interminably long time. People far ahead of me left the line in disgust, already late for class. After a pathetic hour and a half, I crossed the threshold around 10 a.m. It was a computer problem after all.\nIn fact, there were no computers. Instead, a brace of women sat behind obsolete binders at the ready with archaic data-entering pencils. They took down names, identification numbers and class requests with the speed of a 0.8 kilohertz processor. In order to keep track of class closures, each woman was responsible for only half of the available classes so there would be no overlap.\nDisgruntled and peeved, I returned to my car where I found IU Parking Operations to be much more efficient than the Honors College.\nThere is a painfully obvious answer to alleviate this problem. Digitize the system.\nThere are two ways to do this. First, if the Honors advisers really want to see our faces that day, link several computers to a shared database. This way, all staff members can sign students up for all classes, and it cuts wait time dramatically. If there are four computers, the wait will be half as long, possibly more so considering typing is usually faster than handwriting.\nHowever, a much better idea is to put the system online. This way, staff members can do their actual jobs, students can register when and where it is convenient for them and dozens of students can register simultaneously. Since the Honors system is first-come-first-serve, it would be very simple for a Web site to fill class rosters, ask about wait-listing and confirm the requests.\nEither way, IU should never again have to resort to paper.