Registration is a stressful time for students no matter what school they attend. However, at such a small school as the University of La Verne, juniors and seniors should not be worried about getting a class they need to keep them on track to graduate because freshman and sophomores are registering before them.
Certain students on campus, including those in the Campus Activities Board, Associated Students of University of La Verne and the honors program, have priority registration. This means that second semester freshman get to register before final semester seniors in some cases. A senior preparing to graduate should not be worried about getting the class he or she needs.
And they should not have to build back-up class schedules in case their first choice does not pan out.
All students should be on a level playing field based on academics, not their social involvement on campus.
While students should be encouraged to be involved on campus, it should play no part in the academic hierarchy of registration times. Even though certain groups like CAB and ASULV have specific times they must meet throughout the week, other students have jobs to be able to pay tuition and athletes have demanding practice times, and if they are forced to make their schedules work without priority registration, so should everyone else.
The right way to prioritize registration times would be in order of most units on the degree evaluation. That way, those who only have a few classes left are able to get the ones they need.
This would avoid punishing students who want to solely focus on academics and grades as opposed to social involvement.
Typically, priority registration is an enticing way to get people involved with certain organizations, but these groups should find other ways to make themselves look appealing to possible members. The freshman and sophomores losing out on their priority registration will not risk the chance of graduating on time, they will just have to wait to take the ideal classes everyone wants until later on, which is only fair.
Unsigned editorials represent the opinion of the Campus Times Editorial Board.