We all hate registration week.
Whether you’re scrambling to meet graduation requirements, struggling to wedge a third lab block into your schedule or languishing atnumber 24 on a waitlist, course registration is a perennial source of stress.
Unfortunately, we might have taken its efficiency for granted. In past terms, no matter how awkward your time slot, you were at least guaranteed a straightforward process.
This term, however, students opened their DuckWeb to find that the system had been drastically renovated.
The trusty “schedule builder” function had been replaced with five new features. Instead of a self-explanatory user matrix, students were met with a number of instructional videos.
In what appears to be the most unpopular change, the “schedule preview” function has been gutted, replaced by an updated portal that restricts students to either using pre-built degree plans or entering individual CRNs to view classes.
The change has been resoundingly unpopular.
“As a freshman coming into UO, I want scheduling to be nice and simple,” Marika Krempasky, an environmental design major, said. “However with this new system, navigating the website is entirely different and confusing. It makes something as simple as scheduling my classes ten times harder.”
Upperclassmen have found the switch irksome as well. “As a junior, changing up the systems of our class schedule creates an additional system that I have to memorize,” Celeste Mendoza, a psychology and criminology major, said. “It’s just inconvenient.”
As a seasoned veteran of hectic registration weeks myself, I can attest that the existing system was perfectly functional. While schedule builder wasn’t state of the art or glamorous, it fulfilled its purpose – funnelling students into lecture halls with as few complications as possible.
The new registration menu may seem inconsequential, but it is a manifestation of a larger issue. Our campus is currently embroiled in a period of rapid change, struggling to keep up with the push toward modernization and its ever-growing student population.
Far too often, UO implements modernizing or cost-cutting changes at the expense of student experience. Whether it’s cutting language course offerings, slashing RA benefits or even imposing the financially risky raffle system for student football tickets, unwanted alterations are chipping away at the perks that justify the high cost of tuition.
It is natural for the university’s provided services to evolve over time. The issue is not that things are changing – it’s that they are changing for the worse.
Students are rarely consulted, causing further friction between the student body and the administration. When they are, their input seems not to impact the university’s final decision.
During last year’s Student Workers Union strike, for example, student workers expressed substantial concerns about the restructuring of the RA position, which would reduce the role’s compensation from 100% coverage of room and board to as little as 65%. These concerns went unheeded, as administrators have confirmed that next year, these changes to the RA position will go into effect.
Therefore, it comes as no surprise that administrators have also failed to consult students about the changes to the registration process, a small but crucial step in students’ academic journey. While this is a seemingly minor detail in comparison to workers’ compensation or entire majors being upended, it encapsulates a broader dynamic in which students feel that their voices are not heard.
Many of these downgrades are here to stay, as administrators say UO’s dire financial straits are forcing their hand. For the registration portal, the solution is thankfully more straightforward.
With luck, the old system will be restored before next term and the overwhelming message will be heard loud and clear: if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!
Vicki Brewer • Nov 21, 2025 at 7:23 pm
Wonderfully stated!