The Undergraduate Council of Students yesterday held its second open forum on Banner, but few were in attendance despite the 150-plus chairs provided in Leung Gallery.
The 15 to 20 students who showed up asked more pointed questions than those at Tuesday's forum, also hosted by UCS. Students raised a number of concerns that had not previously been voiced, and shopping period was the focus of most of the questions.
Brad Portnoy '09 said he felt shopping period, though technically still present, would not be as free and open under Banner as it is now. He also suggested that registration, which is currently scheduled to begin at 8 a.m. on Tuesday, Apr. 24, should be moved since students would have fewer conflicting time commitments later in the day, he said.
Another student said the Banner policy of giving faculty the power to control every aspect of their course restrictions would be problematic. Though most members of the faculty are in favor of some form of shopping period, the student said some faculty who dislike shopping period might eliminate it through strict course restrictions.
Associate Provost and Banner Project Coordinator Nancy Dunbar addressed a number of other student issues such as privacy of information - under Banner, faculty and administrators will only be able to see information that pertains to them.
But she was unable to provide concrete answers for concerns expressed by Portnoy and others - in some cases, she merely acknowledged the inquirer had raised a valid point.
Dunbar said she would seek out some answers from other administrators.
