UF’s decision to replace the current student records system has one UF student feeling especially relieved.
The Integrated Student Information System, or ISIS, has been used since January 1997 by students to access important information like schedules and degree status.
For 20-year-old marketing sophomore Emily Weiss, the name is a painful reminder.
Weiss’ cousin, Steven Sotloff, was one of the journalists publicly executed by the terrorist organization Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, commonly known as ISIS, last year.
Weiss is reminded of the organization that killed Sotloff every time she logs into the system.
“I would type ‘ISIS’ on my computer and the images would start showing up ... and they’re very disturbing images,” Weiss said.
Weiss took her concerns about the system’s name to associate dean of students Tanja Philhower, who told her the university was already in the process of changing the name.
The name isn’t all that’s being changed, however.
The whole system is in the process of being replaced, Diana Hull, a senior associate at the university registrar, wrote in an email.
Hull said the process has been ongoing for several years and began before the terrorist organization gained worldwide notoriety.
There is currently no estimated completion date and the project is still in the preliminary stages, she said. It began with an evaluation of ISIS and research into options that would best fit the university’s needs and modernize the infrastructure.
A company has been selected to complete the update, said UF Dean of Students Jen Day Shaw. But in the meantime, changes can’t be made to the current system, including the name.
“As you can imagine, when you think of all the data we have, it’s a big project, so it’s not going to be done next month, but it is in process,” Shaw said. “So it’s not an immediate fix, but it will be fixed.”
Even if the timing was a coincidence, Weiss said she felt UF took her concerns seriously when she approached them.
Weiss, who was told the dean of students office had received several other complaints from students and parents, said she is glad for the name change, regardless of the cause.
“Last year, there was a lot of confusion about what group had kidnapped him,” she said. “Once it was established that it was ISIS, (the system) crossed my mind.”
Without the reminder of his death, Weiss will be able to remember Sotloff for who he was.
“He was very adventurous, he was very free-spirited, he was very kind and he really, really cared about people,” Weiss said.
[A version of this story ran on page 1 on 1/28/2015 under the headline “UF’s ISIS to be renamed to avoid Islamic State connection" This headline was changed online because it was misleading.]
