Binghamton University - Colonist / Pegasus Yearbook (Vestal, NY)

Page 12 text:

REGISTRATION Computerized or not, everyone still ends up in the gym.

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- - by b SRS BB el Once a year, on a quiet August morning, a dormant SUNY-B Campus is reawakened. Whether in overstuffed station wagons or rented U-Haul trucks. students found their way to SUNY- Binghamton. Every concevable parking spiace on campus, and then some. was filled with car being unloaded. With trunks, cartons. and milk crates stuffed with albums. students began filing into their respective dorms Frisbees flew while hamburgers and hot dogs sizzled on the gnll. And music filled the air as parties ran late into the night W ho could forget his first week here? Walking around campus desperately trving to find the bookstore Making late might trips 1o Denny's, thinking that was the norm. Hanging out in strange people's rooms talking about. among other things. where thes n T ERa - SUItCases, lost, went to high school and if they knew such and such a person. And continu- ally having to partuicipate in those n- sipid getting to know each other games. as if yvou were entering the se- cond grade. and not college Everybody seemed to go through the same thing during orientation. All new students shared the feelings of loneliness and insecurity that accom- panied being away from home for the first time. as well as the sense of freedom and maturity that that absence brought about The excitement mer camp was of SUNY-B's sum- shortlived though. Within a week's time classes would begin, and those late night trips to Denny's became day long outings at Glenn G, Bartle's o 7 ' - - R e C SR 5

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They had waited for years for the moment that they could walk into registration and be the first in line for everything. With the earliest registration times seniors would be able to select any course they liked. No more waiting to get into Pol Sci 120 or VolleyballRacquetball. But this year the seniors were cut in line by a computer. A new computerized pre-registration system was implemented to alleviate the madness and mayhem that went hand in hand with gym registrations. But like many new programs the system had its flaws. Massive computer misprints and limited course backup options forced many students to make their yearly trek to the gym. Armed with a grid sheet and an eraserless number 2 pencil students once again waited in line, The headaches and frustrations were everpresent as courses opened and closed faster than you could say computerization. Sprawled out on the gym floor students tried in vain to map out some sort of schedule that would let them sleep late, have Fridays off, and still complete the requirements for their majors. Last ditch efforts to get into a course often resulted in the filling out of petitions. And then there were the defiant few who calmly vowed to wait until the first day of classes for the teacher to sign them in. Computerized or not, it became clear that you could take registration out of the gym, but you couldn't take gym out of registration. el