As another shopping period comes to a close, one can't walk through Valentine without hearing all the usual complaints from students ("Classes are too big;" "I got cut from the class I wanted;" "I wasted my time shopping a class that was falsely advertised"). Similarly, professors are often vocal about their negative feelings about the add-drop period. Many faculty members think that the first two weeks are more or less wasted by the constant changes in class rosters.

We appreciate the concerns of both faculty and students, but most of the College's registration "problems" are simply inescapable parts of the system. Students can not have their cake and eat it too-popular classes have to cut people or they will be larger than anyone wants Amherst classes to be. The faculty's understandable frustrations are just as difficult to address because an effective shopping period is an essential complement to the College's open curriculum. If, as the College believes, omitting requirements is important because it guarantees engaged, interested students in every classroom, extensive add-drop opportunities must be available.

Although every registration period will leave someone upset, we feel that many of the semiannual registration qualms could be diminished if courses' syllabi were made available to the College community before students enter the classroom. Granted, this would put a small burden on professors to finalize and submit their syllabi before courses begin, but we feel that this extra time would simplify the add-drop process for everyone involved. In fact, it might eventually allow for shopping period to be shortened-certainly a benefit that justifies earlier syllabus preparation.

With detailed class information in tow, students would have a greater understanding of the courses they might shop. Under the current system, misleading descriptions in the course catalog lure in students who would otherwise have no interest in taking the class. As a result, students frequently waste their time as well as the professor's. In the worst-case scenario, students choose to shop a class they don't want and lose the opportunity to check out another course at the same time.

If students were able to make more informed shopping decisions, course rosters would be less volatile and the add-drop period could take on more academic significance.

Luckily, the possible publication of syllabi is now extremely plausible due to last year's introduction of the online version of the course catalog. Each course's link could include not only the time, description and location of each course, but a link to the syllabus as well.

We are glad that the recently published Committee on Academic Priorities (CAP) report mentioned continued updates to the registrar's online presence. The CAP recommended that the "College further refine the capabilities of [its] online resources … [to provide] up-to-date information on whether a course is open to further new enrollment." We hope that earlier syllabus availability is next on their list of priorities.