Students who were awake bright and early Wednesday morning to register for classes on ONE.UF’s website got an unwelcome message.
“Currently Undergoing Maintenance,” their screens read. “Please try again later.”
The glitch left students slamming the refresh button, hoping the classes they need to graduate don’t fill up. One UF student decided he had enough.
Thomas Wolfe, a 20-year-old UF engineering junior, made a change.org petition asking UF administration to fix the issue permanently. As of Thursday afternoon, the petition surpassed its original 500 signature goal. The petition has been updated with a new goal of 1,000 signatures.
Tracy Gale, the communications manager for UF Information Technology (UFIT), said the problem was resolved in a timely manner.
UFIT was alerted about the system lag around 8:10 a.m. soon after the registration window opened at 8 a.m., Gale said. The team was deployed immediately and within 25 minutes the issue was resolved.
Gale said UFIT is working on reviewing the system infrastructure and performing tests to ensure the issue is not repeated.
In his petition, Wolfe demanded the registration system be immediately fixed. He said he plans to go to the dean of students’ office with the petition to “make sure they’re forced to listen.”
“The response has been amazing,” Wolfe said. “Everyone feels the same way about the registration process and now we can all be heard.”
Wolfe said the ONE.UF system must have crashed because so many people tried to register at the same time. He said this leaves students who need to enroll in specific classes to graduate unable to do so.
He said the problem “creates major stress and unnecessary worry for students.”
This isn’t a new issue. The system glitched during the Spring, causing hundreds of students to delay their class registration.
Registration slots are given to students with a higher number of credit hours first, according to the UF Registrar’s website. But glitches in the registration system can have seniors struggling to register for classes in time for graduation, Wolfe said.
Wolfe isn’t the only one upset over the ONE.UF issues.
One student who signed the petition commented, “Every year this happens, stressing everyone out. It needs to change.” Another wrote. “My graduation date has been pushed back over a semester due to this awful system.”
A screenshot of the ONE.UF page during the time of the glitch.
Nora O'Neill is a fourth-year journalism and philosophy student and the Enterprise Editor for The Alligator. She previously served as the Avenue Editor and the business and economics beat reporter. In her free time you can find her reading books with no plot and abusing her Chemex.
