Registration Rumblings
Radio-TV-film students must get permits to register

By Kelly Marino
Staff Reporter

As radio-TV-film majors begin registering for classes this week, they will have to deal with more than just the FrogNet online registration system.

Due to the increasing amount of students in the program and the limited amount of classes, radio-TV-film majors must now have an adviser personally review their transcripts and give them permits for each upper-level division course they take in the department.

Photo by Kelly Marino - Staff Reporter More than 40 senior radio-TV-film majors wait Monday to gain permission to enroll in upper-level courses. Four faculty members were able to to meet with each of the students individually in less than 45 minutes.

Patricia Kirk, radio-TV-film administrative assistant, said it took only 40 minutes to register all 44 seniors who registered Monday.

“Each student sat down with one of the four professors available in our conference room, and we got to all the students quickly,” she said. “It was wonderful.”

Roger Cooper, chairman of the radio-TV-film department, said that even though the faculty and the students do not enjoy registering for courses this way, it is good for the quality of the program and the classes.

“We don’t have any other reliable way of checking each prerequisite, so we check each student’s transcript manually to make sure they qualify for the classes they are signing up for,” Cooper said.

David Kindred, a junior radio-TV-film major, said a lot of non-radio-TV-film majors have been filing upper level courses which makes it difficult for others to enroll in.

“It’s kind of a bad deal, but a lot of non-majors were disregarding the fact that there are prerequisites that must be taken before they enroll in upper-level courses,” Kindred said. “This is a way to make sure all (radio-TV-film) majors have seniority and to keep non-majors from filling up the classes.”

This is the third semester the radio-TV-film department has decided to take this method of registering. Students can register for the department’s three core classes before having to discuss their course selections with an adviser.

Lyndi Conrad, a sophomore radio-TV-film major, said registering for classes this way is a hassle, but until the department adds more classes or gets more faculty, it is the only way students can get the classes they need.

Kindred said the only problem he has with this method of registering is students do not get to line up according to their hours.

Cooper said the department is trying to help students graduate as quickly as they want.

“We have added more classes, made curriculum changes and have been authorized to hire additional faculty for next semester,” Cooper said.

Kelly Marino
k.a.marino@student.tcu.edu