As spring registration wraps up on Friday, the process has drawn mixed reactions from the student body and was further complicated by a technical error that removed the advising hold for thousands of students.
The students used Workday Student to register, solidifying a shift to the platform that was announced in April 2023. The software has elicited a mixed response from the student body, with complaints about its usability joining the usual frustrations over limited course availability and full classes.
An anonymous post on Fizz expressed the following grievance: “Workday is the worst thing to happen to Fairfield.” It received more than 1,000 upvotes, a digital indicator of agreement amongst students. A second post directly acknowledged the change, stating that “the old system was so much better.”
Sophomore Aida Ehlers, an English and Philosophy major, echoes these sentiments.
“Workday is very confusing and not at all user-friendly,” she describes.
Ehlers underscored her preference for the Degree Works platform, which students could refer to as they assessed their academic progress and planned for future courses.
“It told me exactly what I needed to take for both my major and the Magis Core in a nice color-coded chart,” Ehlers states.
The site is still accessible for students who log in with their Net ID, but it is not updated to reflect students’ current course loads.
As a result, some students have turned their attention away from Degree Works and toward the registration process itself — an experience that, despite some challenges, many have found manageable.
Junior Chloe Hand shares, “I had enough credits to register as a senior, so I was able to get all of the classes I needed with no problems and got a good schedule.”
Teddy Kelleher, an undecided first-year student who is prepared to register on Friday, is hopeful that he will also be able to navigate the process with ease and encourages his peers to remain optimistic.
“When registering for classes, be prepared not to get what you want when it comes to class times,” he says. “There can be reserved seating that takes up the class fully… but it does allow you to look forward to being an upperclassman and choosing classes first.”
Accidental Removal of Advising Holds
The registration process faced complications on the administrative end, according to an email obtained by The Mirror that was sent to faculty by Mark Ligas, Vice Provost for Undergraduate Excellence.
The email revealed that advising holds were accidentally lifted from the accounts of more than 4,000 students.
Traditionally, advising holds are only lifted after a student has met with their academic advisor to discuss their plan for the upcoming registration period.
The message, sent to faculty on Nov. 11, detailed the steps taken to address the issue once it was identified.
“As soon as this was discovered, we had ALL advising holds put back on (essentially so students wouldn’t take notice and start spreading rumors that the advising holds are gone),” Ligas wrote.
However, it was not possible to account for the few hours between when the incident occurred and when the holds were restored.
“As a result, those students who got advising during that time would have their holds put back on,” Ligas explained. “Come registration day, they would not be able to register beginning at 7 a.m.”
To prevent this issue from affecting registration, all advising holds were removed the evening before the registration period began — including those that had been intentionally lifted following an advising session.
Still, Ligas urged academic advisors to move forward with “business as usual”.
“The students were NOT told that holds were removed…and indeed they should continue with their advising appointment,” Ligas said.
A poll posted on Fizz confirmed that the majority of students were unaware of the incident. The poll asked, “Did you know that more than 4,000 advising holds were lifted in a system-wide error?”. As of noon on Tuesday, it garnered 968 responses, with 78% answering “no.”
Ehlers notes that her advisor did inform her of the issue, and she thinks it is “fine.” She considers, though, if the advising hold should exist in the first place.
“While in some cases an advisor can be helpful to meet with before classes, I’ve always thought it was ridiculous that advising was an actual hold that could prevent someone from registering,” Ehler states.
A second email was sent by Senior Assistant Dean Colby Lemieux, relaying another message from Ligas with an additional task.
“If you have a moment…and if you can recall those you met with yesterday (I realize that this might be unrealistic for some of you, who have larger numbers of advisees)…please log back in and remove the hold (which was restored after detecting yesterday’s error),” it read.
Bill Natlo, an Instructor of the Practice in Marketing, provided insight as an advisor to 147 students.
“The accidental removal of holds really didn’t impact my advising at all, thankfully,” he said. “Every student I work with kept their appointments with me and got the proper advising needed. Honestly, I found that most students weren’t even aware that the holds had been inadvertently removed.”
The Mirror sent an email to request comment from the faculty who were recipients of Ligas’ initial email, and will update its website should any of the faculty members respond.
