SGA reverses position on late registration ban

The Student Government Association (SGA) recently voted in favor of the amended proposal to ban late registration for first-time-in-college students and to shorten the add/drop period to two days for continuing students.

"We support it because it makes sense," said SGA President Sophia Downing. "It seems kind of harsh and unfair at first, but the main interest is for student success."

According to Downing, the Academic and Campus Affairs Council (ACAC) presented the original version of the proposal, which banned late registration and add/drops for both new and continuing students, to SGA last March.

Downing said SGA did not approve the initial version.           

"It seemed like they didn't have student success in mind. But the plan they have in place now with only first-entry students seems like it would work better to get new students committed to coming to college. Limiting add-drops also sort of protects students so they don't meet that six withdraw limit so soon," she said.

After SGA and other various groups sent their comments and concerns about the initial proposal to ACAC, the council amended it and changed the verbiage to restrict the banning of late registration to first-time-in-college students only, said Mike Midgley, chair of ACAC.

The council's next step, according to Midgley, will be to gather feedback to determine the outcome of the proposal before sending it to the president for finalization.

"The proposal has really evolved in the year and a half that we've been discussing this," said Midgley. "And, frankly, I think it's improved over that time. I think that, while it's taken us a long time to get to this point, it's not necessarily a bad thing because we've ended up with a lot more support for the current proposal from different groups, and we've ended up with a more finely honed proposal."

According to Kathleen Christensen, vice president of student support and success systems, the proposal is just one part of the collegewide student success initiative.

"Do we want students to be successful? Should that be our number one priority? Yes, it should," said Christensen. "I believe students should be in class on the first day in order to be academically successful. There is ample research to support that."

Dylan Pera, vice president of SGA, said the proposal will benefit students in the long-run, though it will take some adjusting.

"It might make things a little more difficult for the students, but, overall, in the council's plan of student success, it should help," he said.

The next ACAC meeting is scheduled for May 6 and will take place at the Highland Business Center.