With registration at UW-Madison this semester restricted to Web-based enrollment, many students said they experienced problems last week with the new system.
Karen Hansen, the assistant registrar for enrollment services, said the main problems occurred from 7:40 to 8:40 p.m. Wednesday.
\It's unclear to me what exactly the difficulties were,"" she said. ""I think they were network related.""
Joel Osorio, a UW-Madison junior and a student assistant at College Library computer lab who was working in the lab at the time students were experiencing difficulties, said the problem extended beyond Web enrollment.
""It was most university servers, that is WiscMail, registration, academics, anything on the MyUW page,"" he said.
Although Dave Julson, a UW-Madison junior did not have problems with the server, he said he could sympathize with the problems students had with Web-only enrollment.
""I can see how it'd be extremely aggravating, especially with classes filling up so quickly,"" he said.
Lowerclassmen experienced less anxiety about problems with enrollment, according to Justin Urban, a UW-Madison freshman.
""I'm not really that worried about the classes I get next semester,"" he said. ""These first-year classes, they all suck anyway.""
However, Darcey Nett, a UW-Madison senior, said when she enrolled Thursday morning, she quickly noticed problems with the process.
""It took me four times before it finally accepted [my registration],"" she said.
In part due to the problems last week, the touch-tone method of registration still has some supporters. Nett said she had just gotten comfortable using the touch-tone system, when web only enrollment was implemented.
""I think that [Web enrollment] is so much more of a pain,"" she said. ""They should have both available.""
Julson, on the other hand, said that if the network functions properly, Web enrollment is just fine.
""I don't mind [Web enrollment],"" he said. ""I guess I never liked the touch-tone.""
The UW-Madison Division of Information Technology help center received over 60 calls for help in the first week of enrollment, Hansen said. Statistics were not yet available for this week.
However, Brian Rust, DoIT's senior administration program specialist, said that he could not confirm any reports of enrollment difficulties.
""I don't know of any general problem with the servers,"" he said.
Students who have problems with the Web-based enrollment system can call the DoIT help desk at 264-3648.
