Registrar Can Provide Better Web Services

To the editors:

I was very glad to read that the FAS Office of the Registrar is making steady progress in allowing undergraduate students to view and update their personal and academic information via the Internet (News, “Website Eases Access To Academic Records,” Jan. 22). Still, such slow progress is almost laughable compared to the much more powerful and convenient Axess system at Stanford University.

Imagine if you could do all of the following online: update personal information such as mailing addresses and emergency contact information; view personal academic information such as your major and minor, the number of units completed and general education and foreign language requirements fulfilled; and, most importantly, register for class! No need to submit a paper study card, no need to trek to the likes of Lehman Hall or 20 Garden Street! Dropping or adding courses, selecting Pass/Fail grading—all done online! Now, wouldn’t that be convenient? Well, students at Stanford have been able to do all of this for at least five years, so why not here at Harvard? As an alumnus, I can still order transcrpits on Axess.

So, Registrar’s Office at Harvard: Kudos on improving access to the students records system—it’s a good start. I just hope that some timebefore I finish my degree, I will be able to register for my “TIME-R” courses (i.e., courses designating research assistantship) online, without making the trip to 20 Garden Street in the winter!

Alex Pekker

Jan. 25, 2003

The writer is a student at the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.