I would like to respond to Christian Berle’s op-ed (“Fix Registration System,” Nov. 15, p. 5). Berle says the Student Admissions Representative program is undeserving of early registration. He claims the STAR program is in part responsible for students being closed out of classes. But Berle made a few errors made in his assessment .

Berle asks about “student employees in other departments.” The fallacy of this argument is that STARs are not employees, they are volunteers. The time, dedication and enthusiasm they bring to tours every week are not based on a wage. The only compensation they receive is satisfaction and the added bonus of early registration. It is important to note that employees of the Admissions Office, much like those of the Marvin Center or Gelman Library, are not given early registration but rather a paycheck.

Berle claims STARs would be able to find an hour in their schedule when they could give tours without early registration. But STARs are some of the most highly involved students at GW. Because of their studies and other activities, it is essential that they have flexibility in their schedule so that they can give tours during specific times during the day.

Finally, Berle states that STARs being given early registration is analogous to priority boarding at an airport. In this analogy STARs who register early for classes are compared to passengers who take up cargo space when boarding a plane before the rest of the passengers. However, I suppose that my question for Berle would be: If it were not for the STAR program, would anybody even be on the plane?

-Andrew Rossi
STAR program co-coordinator