After three weeks of vacation bliss, it’s hard coming back to the grind of college. The annoying reality of unpacking, procuring your class list, and buying your books (which can cost you or your parents upwards of $300) is what you have to look forward to. The last thing you want in this chaotic time is a problem.
Unfortunately for Fairfield students, problems in the system seemed to pop up at every turn. Students started arriving back on campus on Sunday, Jan. 12, but a number of them, mostly athletic teams and those who live in the townhouses and apartments, were on campus for days before that. The Saturday before the start of class found the bookstore closed.
Meghan Doherty, ’05, had been on campus since Dec. 28 and was upset that the store was closed so soon before classes started.
“I thought being back early I could avoid the insanity, but I still had to wait until Sunday to buy my books when the rest of the undergraduate population was there.”
Once the bookstore was open on Sunday, more problems awaited customers. With classes one day away, a number of the books required for courses were not even available, with no certain idea of when their arrival would be.
Carolyn Arnold, ’05, was assigned a reading from a book that has not arrived yet, but said, “It inconveniences me of course, but as long as the professor knows that the books aren’t in, I can’t get in trouble.”
Even after the trials and tribulations of the bookstore, more problems occurred when students attempted to get their class schedules and room locations over Campus Pipeline. It was down until late at night.
Karima Ovins, ’04, who had an 8:00 a.m. class the next morning, was upset at the delay. “This wasn’t a problem when the registrar would leave copies of student’s schedules in mailboxes before classes started. If the university is going to have class begin on a Monday, they need to ensure that students are able to be properly prepared.”
But is all this really a conspiracy to make our lives even more miserable these first few days back? Barbara Farrell, the Fairfield University bookstore manager, explained that even though the bookstore was not open last Saturday the staff was there, working. The bookstore has to deal with a number of pre-orders every semester, and Farrell explained that because of the work needed to put together the pre-orders, “Logistically, we could not be open on Saturday. There were not enough hands.”
In addition, she explained that there are a number of variables that factor into books being late, including late requests from professors. The bookstore also shops around for used books before they go to the editors for books, who are busy themselves, servicing universities across the nation. Farrell said that it was “a huge task.”
As for Campus Pipeline, Kevin Clancy, the account executive, stated that the administrative section that handles that information had scheduled downtime for an upgrade.
“In the past, messages were put up to alert people to the situation, but there was a miscommunication in this instance.”
Even if you could not access your personal account, however, there is an online catalogue of all class listings and room numbers under the School Services tab. It may not be as convenient as having your own schedule available, but it’s the failsafe in the event that you can’t access your own account.
All college students must accept certain inevitable truths; coming back to school is a pain, books are expensive, and web sites will crash. To avoid these problems, pre-order your books, learn the ins and outs of Campus Pipeline, and buy your dad a present in thanks for the amount of cash he’s dropping for your education.
Leave a Reply