EDITORIAL – For once, new Pitt system goes smoothly

Last Thursday, seniors trying to register for classes got a reprieve from Murphy’s Law. What… Last Thursday, seniors trying to register for classes got a reprieve from Murphy’s Law. What could go wrong with the new registration software didn’t. Despite some doomsday predictions, registration went as smoothly as could any process that involves hundreds of students lining up early in the morning to fill out paperwork.

Frankly, we were surprised. Instead of the boiling-hot mess we pessimists expected, we got a quiet victory for Pitt. Pitt’s track record of implementing new systems — cough, basketball tickets, cough — isn’t exactly sparkling. The Athletics Department could learn something from the Registrar’s office, and all those who worked to install and maintain the PeopleSoft system.

Things went well, and there were Computer Services and Systems Development people on hand in case they didn’t. That kind of foresight made registering an easier process for all involved. It’s the kind we could use in the fall when the Athletics Department implements yet another ticket distribution program that probably won’t work. Surely if advising can make this work, Athletics can, too.

Furthermore, this new PeopleSoft system will allow a transition to online registration. While we’re quite enamored with the current carbon-paper system, it’s not exactly efficient for doing anything but making paper airplanes out of the Add/Drop forms. Now that we have the new software, which makes my.pitt.edu look quite pretty, we will have the capability to register electronically.

Well, we will eventually. For now we can revel in the relative disaster-less-ness of this procedure. Kudos to University Registrar Samuel Conte for being an administrator who goes to extra lengths for the students. Little gestures like making sure there are police on hand to let students in at 5 a.m. go a long way. Within Pitt’s at-times apathetic bureaucracy, it’s good to know that there are a few higher-ups that genuinely care about us.

And kudos the advisers and all the people who work at Thackeray for making this registration season a little less frazzled. These people work largely thankless jobs, guiding confused students who can’t complete forms properly through the tangles of registration.

So, if we don’t say it enough or at all: Thank you. The only things that could have made registration better would have been cookies and juice or maybe a strolling troubadour. Well, we’re not going to press our luck.