As undergraduate students register for spring semester classes, the outdatedness of OASIS, the university’s registration program, becomes evident yet again.

OASIS uses the SSH client program PuTTY, a terminal emulator that allows access to a computer mainframe remotely. Students log on to OASIS to register by entering a series of commands to add, drop, show and waitlist courses. While the description may make the program sound advanced to the casual computer user, every Vanderbilt student knows just from using it that OASIS has an archaic interface that appears to be stuck in the 1980s.

Furthermore, the program is anything but user-friendly. The scrolling text does not allow easy maneuvering between the course schedule and the list of available courses. What results is an inefficient and clumsy system that makes registering for classes a nightmare.

Why does the university continue to use such a poorly outdated program? Why not a more updated program with an interface that allows easily searchable courses and a visual application to aid in scheduling? For an institution that perceives itself as a national-level research university, the backward registration system belies these claims.

Students deserve either a better registration program or an explanation why such a program is not feasible.

—Mike Warren