Banner Technical Problem Delays Student Registration

By: Mariam Abdel Moneim

A technical problem from the Information Technology (IT) department caused the Student Banner to crash on Nov. 30, resulting in a one-day delay to the original registration dates for Spring 2014.

“I stayed up till 12 a.m. for registration and when the problem occurred, I got really angry as AUC’s technical staff should have been more professional,” said Ali El Bakry, a business administration senior.

He added that AUC should be more accurate as to meet deadlines, just like they expect students to be professional and meet their deadlines and penalize them when they don’t.

The problem occurred at around 10 p.m. and the technicians took care of it as soon as they could, according to Khaled Helmy, IT help-desk representative, adding that the banner started working again on Dec. 1 at 9 p.m.

Students were informed of the problem and that registration would be postponed at around 1 p.m. the following day.

“It is unfair to students, because our professors don’t take into consideration our technical difficulties, if we are ever faced with them, in submitting work, so the students should be treated equally,” said El Bakry.

Helmy explained that Banner could not connect with the database as there was a “connection flapping,” adding that it is the first time the department faces such difficulties and that as soon as they identified the issue, they restored the system.

“I kept refreshing the page until 3 a.m. because I thought that I was the only one with a problem and that everyone else was able to register,” said Maria Moustafa, a psychology senior.

She added that the AUC technical system should have informed students earlier than they did, as student’s rights shouldn’t be belittled