It’s that time of the quarter again: class registration. As seniors, juniors, sophomores and freshman all wait their turn to jockey for the precious slots in classes they want with the professors they want, it is often forgotten that those slots may have already been filled by athletes, who stand in the front of the registration line. It is time for DU to rethink its policy of letting athletes register before everyone else.

Class registration at DU is a week long process.

All athletes register first, and are followed by honors students. Seniors then register the next day; they are assigned a random time when they can log onto webCentral to register.

Juniors, sophomores and freshmen each then follow the same process in the following registration days.

But why should athletes be on the top of the totem pole of class registration? While it is true that DU athletes have busy practice and travel schedules, is it really justification to select their classes before everyone else?

Athletes do not deserve this special treatment any more than other students in the DU community do.

I was a varsity athlete for three years in high school, and never got any such special treatment. I put in two or more hours every day at practice from early August at the start of cross country season until track season ended in late May, and still balanced a rigorous class schedule.

I do not argue the fact that college athletics are on a whole different level than high school athletics are, but I do not believe that one fact justifies top priority in class registration.

DU has a responsibility to retain a high level of academic integrity among its student athletes.

It is far too easy to imagine student athletes taking advantage of their first in line status to get into some of the highly coveted classes where the professor is known to have an easier reputation on the grading front.

Coasting through college is sure to catch up with them later, and DU has a responsibility to ensure that it does not have the chance to happen in the first place.

I propose a new system for class registration. Let the honors students stay near the front of the line, and let the athletes register at the beginning of the day their class year is registering.

So if juniors register at assigned time slots on Tuesday, let junior student athletes register the same morning before the rest of their class year.

If changes really have to be made to the athletes’ schedules to fit their practice or travel schedule, they can be negotiated later, with professors.

But the practice of letting student athletes register before all other students is not fair by any means, and needs to be reconsidered by the administration and registrar.