Twenty students showed up Monday morning for their legal writing course and spent 45 minutes in the classroom without a teacher.
The English Department didn’t realize the course, English 3101, did not have a teacher until the first day of classes, said Kieu Nguyen, computer analyst at the English Department. The class was not supposed to be offered to students this semester.
A student in the class called the English Department and asked what was going on, English senior Halie Rowzee said after the students waited for the teacher.
“It was just an oversight on my part,” Nguyen said.
The English Deparment’s database showed it was not offering the course in the spring, but it did not match the University’s mainframe, Nguyen said.
This was the first time this happened in the English Department, Nguyen said.
After the students found out there was no teacher, they went to the department hoping the problem could be fixed.
To fix the problem, the department worked with students to find a course that would fit their schedule. If a certain course was full, they overrode the students onto the roster.
Jade Forouzanfar, business management senior, said most of the English majors were able to fix their schedule without a problem. She said her concern was non-English majors trying to work with other departments that were not as understanding.
When Forouzanfar arrived at the English Department, she asked for a note detailing the situation to show counselors at other departments. But she said an administrator would not give one unless they had the class and section number.
Forouzanfar said she did not have the information readily available because of the time constraints.
“They’ve been less than compliant,” Forouzanfar said.
Forouzanfar was finally able to fix her schedule with the help of the Marketing Department.
Rowzee said she refuses to let the situation keep her from graduating.
“I honestly don’t know how it could’ve happened in the first place,” Rowzee said. “How do you let 30 something kids go to a class that’s not even real?”
—-Contact J.J. Alcantara at [email protected].