Registrar cuts ISIS phone line, COD book

Due to budget cuts, the University Registrar's Office announced yesterday it has ended telephone access to the Integrated Student Information System and terminated printing of the Course Offering Directory.

Grade reports also will no longer be sent to students, but instead they will be available exclusively online.

The elimination of ISIS telephone services was slated for next summer as part of a consolidation effort, but budget pressure and lack of use made the immediate move necessary, a University press release said.

The Registrar's Office previously spent over $5,000 a month to maintain the telephone service, according to University Spokeswoman Louise Dudley.

Since ISIS Online was introduced in the fall of 1999, many students have migrated away from the telephone system. This semester, less than 8 percent of final registrations occurred over the phone, Dudley added.

Don Reynard, director of applications and data services for Information Technology and Communication, said that in the past 18 months, less than 7 percent of registration adds and drops were processed by voice response.

Although some students experienced problems with ISIS Online over the summer, Reynard does not anticipate difficulties resulting from exclusive use of the online system.

"During the summer, law students had a problem caused by a faulty router, but we have since tuned both the hardware and application systems," Reynard said. "That was an isolated incident."

Although the ISIS telephone service was discontinued yesterday, the ISIS Web site has not been updated to reflect the change. A call to the ISIS telephone number, however, results in a pre-recorded message stating the new policy.

In other budget cutting moves, the Course Offering Directory will cease paper publication, and grade reports will not be sent to students, though they both still will be available online. Students also will be able to request a printed grade report on the Internet.

"Although the Registrar's Office printed half as many Course Offering Directories this semester, over 3,000 unclaimed copies remain," Dudley said. "Online course offerings have been increasingly popular and it provides things that a print publication cannot, such as links and constant updates."

It remains to be seen how these decisions will affect students without Internet access.

"If you didn't have a computer it would be a problem, but it doesn't affect me personally," first-year College student Logan Sachon said.

Even for those with Internet access, there still may be inconveniences.

"A lot of times it's nice to have a hard copy of your grades with you when filling out grad school applications," fourth-year College student Matthew Delaney said.

Third-year Engineering student Darrin London also appreciates the convenience of printed materials.

"I like to use the Course Offering Directory instead of flipping back and forth online," London said. "That might be a problem."

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