My experience (a rather common one) was similar to, though perhaps more fair than, that of the students in Sung's article who ultimately failed to gain admission to Professor of Political Science Javier Corrales' "The Political Economy of Petro-States." My professor let in only seniors, a frustrating fact for us junior English majors, but she compensated for cutting us by promising that the class would be taught again in the fall. In contrast, Professor Corrales chose to use a lottery system. In both classes, pre-registration was largely ignored. The anonymous student found such inconsistencies in Amherst's class enrollment procedures to be indicative of an administrative problem, and while such frustration is at times justified (though often not), it does not solve the problems of Add-Drop. Faculty discretion in class admissions is part of an overall pattern of faculty-driven education, a pattern which has numerous benefits in addition to the registration problems that we often encounter. And no across-the-board registration policy would even make sense without numerous exceptions: Many classes (such as some found in the theater and dance department) require a calculated mix of gender and age that cannot be provided by pre-registration or major-preference alone, these being the two factors the anonymous student (and I) felt should determine who got into Professor Corrales' class. Though it is evident the administration should not "go all fascist" on registration, so to speak, there are specific things that can be done to ease the process for the student body. While it would be impossible to establish uniform registration guidelines for who gets into classes, it is possible to ask professors to clarify their own policies, adding special notices in the course catalog that state not only that their class has a "limited enrollment" but exactly how the enrollment will be limited. Detailed information in the course catalog would help individuals like the anonymous student better gauge their chances at getting into any particular class, allowing them proper notice to prepare a back-up class, and giving them the opportunity to communicate with the back-up professor ahead of time. In such cases, I feel the "back-up" professor should be (and usually is) cooperative, understanding that it is not the student's fault that Add-Drop is a messy two weeks.
In addition to noting the exceptional classes in the course catalog, I would encourage faculty to, on the whole, adopt the anonymous students' criterion for enrolling their classes. Professors will inevitably have to have and use this discretion-while Professor Corrales suggested that an "enrollment cap" might help solve his registration problems, the current pre-registration system does not give preference to students based on when they pre-register, and thus forces professors to determine their class make-up. The problem is not always as extreme as it appears, however, provided professors honor pre-registration: In many cases, the number of pre-registered students for a class is smaller than the number who show up on the first day, and the number of pre-registered students who show up on the first day is often fewer still. These students should get first priority in the class: Arbitrary as it may seem, the unregistered students know coming in that there's a good chance they'll get cut, and thus should have readied themselves for the possibility.
The anonymous student further implied Professor Corrales does not "believe in the preregistration system," which may or may not have been the case. Aside from Corrales, though, it is true that many professors actively do not "believe in" pre-registration. Many also ignore the anonymous student's other factor: declared major. Such disregard is in the name of the liberal arts experience, but while the cause might be noble, the victims are the various majors who get cut from their own department's classes and the students who undergo extensive freak-outs after losing their pre-registered schedules. Students, facing major requirements and dwindling Add-Drop hours, haven't the privilege to "not believe in" pre-registration or major-preferences. Students have only so many days in which they can determine their schedule, and majors have a specific number of classes they must take in a department, and often specific classes in that department they must take. So when professors choose to disregard pre-registration or students' majors, they only intensify the problems students encounter with Add-Drop. As to giving preference to majors, one need only note that a student cut from an English class who is not an English major can take a class in any department; an English major often must substitute another English class, making her remaining options and choices far more limited than a student with no such requirement.
It would be unwise for the administration to force faculty to conform to certain guidelines, in the interest of maintaining faculty autonomy and preserving the student makeup of those classes with exceptional needs. But with that freedom comes some responsibility that the professors generally conform to reasonable admission standards, and that they do not take out on their students their frustration with registration guidelines or major requirements. With absolutely no standards in place, erratic policies become the rule, and students wander around disjointed and anxious during Add-Drop, aware they could be denied entry to any of their "rock" classes for a host of (often unpredictable) reasons.
Max Rosen can be contacted at jmrosen@amherst.edu