Students struggle to register for classes after Stormfront crashes
November 12, 2014
Sophomore Simpson College students were unable to register on time for spring semester classes after Stormfront crashed. Registration has ran smoothly all week, until Wednesday night, causing students to fill the hallway of Hillman Hall to reach the registrar’s office for one-on-one assistance.
Registrar staff stayed late to help students coming to them with issues. At around 6:30 p.m., there were about 40 students in line to reach the registrar. Some students were sitting on the ground with their laptops hitting refresh multiple times, hoping Stormfront would reset and they could register quickly.
Lauren Ulm, a sophomore who tried to register for two and a half hours, realized there was a problem when she could login to Stormfront, but when she clicked on the register button it wouldn’t let her go further.
“I’m slightly frustrated, but more stressed than anything,” Ulm said. “I started trying at 4:45 p.m. and it’s now close to 7 p.m. Luckily, I had an alternative choice for a class I couldn’t get into.”
Students got word of the registrar helping students as Information Services worked through the problem from upperclassman and social media. Students sent upset tweets throughout the process.
Sophomore Mary Hudson tweeted, “Stormfront crashed…registering for classes shouldn’t be this stressful.”
Early on, students were worried about making it into classes they needed or had planned on taking.
“This is really frustrating. I’m supposed to be at work right now, but all I want to do is register,” Amy Larson, sophomore, said. “I checked some of the classes I wanted this morning and there weren’t many spots available. I’m worried about getting my class schedule because once it gets back up there will be an overload and everyone will be registering at once.”
To lighten the mood, Victoria Halloran, Holy Grounds coffee shop manager, brought coffee over for the registrar staff and students waiting in line.
Eventually IT was able to get Stormfront up and working and students could register, though there was still the problem of classes being full by the time sophomore standing students could get to them.
Students were relieved they could now register, but were still frustrated by IT.
“I think IT should be re-evaluated. There are constant problems with the Wi-Fi and everything,” Larson said.
Sophomore Lauren Kisley was also concerned about information services.
“I know they were doing everything they could, but they also knew registration was coming up for a while so they could have had more ideas on how to fix the problem,” Kisley said. “All we could do was sit in Hillman to find out answers.”
Students, Ulm and Kisley, agreed they have never had problems like this with registering, but hope the same problem won’t happen tomorrow for the freshman attempting to register.
The registrar and information services were unavailable at the time for comment, but The Simpsonian will do further coverage on this issue as word comes in.