Registration for Spring Term classes begins next week. As in previous years, students will be able to select their classes online via the Colgate portal website or in person at the Registrar’s Office.

Some departments, including the Political Science Department, have allowed students to pre-register for courses in advance of the start of the registration period.

Political Science Chair Joseph Wagner explained that his department allowed students interested in two related courses to guarantee enrollment in both by pre-registering.

“[This system] is part of a curriculum innovation that we’re trying where we have faculty who are teaching courses that have some common points of interest,” Wagner said, naming globalism, political science methodology and ideological issues as some areas that overlap in the political

science curriculum.

“In those courses, there will be a minimum of three common sessions where both classes will meet together and the faculty will step out of their usual roles as lecturers and talk about the common theme and reflect on their understandings of [the themes] as researchers or teachers,” he said.

A number of students have taken advantage of the opportunity to pre-register, but the exact numbers won’t be known until Friday.

Every student received a registration booklet in his mailbox last week, listing available courses and outlining next week’s schedule: seniors register on Monday, November 7, followed by juniors on November 8, sophomores on November 9 and first-years on November 10. Registration will take place each day between 6:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m.

The registration booklet also describes new courses not included in the Colgate Catalogue. Among the new courses for Spring 2006 are a number of Biology, English and Religion courses.

Members of the Class of 2009 and others unfamiliar with Colgate’s registration procedures were welcome to attend a “how-to” session organized by the Link Staff last Tuesday.

Upperclassmen described the web registration system, BannerWeb, and demonstrated the process of adding and dropping courses online.

First-Year Melinda Chau said she felt ready for the process.

“I’m not really worried about registration because I am looking into introductory courses mostly that I don’t think upperclassmen will fill up and I’m in the middle of the priority list,” she said.