Registration to Draw 5000 For Memorial Hall Ritual

Approximately 5000 upperclassmen will file through Memorial Hall today, signing away the next twelve weeks and about $7000.

To this not-insubstantial figure many may find a $40 late fee tacked on, if they do not register for the fall term by 4 p.m.

Those who have not yet paid their term bills--the first portion of which was due on August 5--will discover the infamous red dot on their registration packets, a warning that they must pay the same $40 fee unless they arrive at Mem Hall with checks in hand.

About 550 students will discover the scarlet menace today, according to Stephen W. Homer of the Financial Systems office. He added that each year between 8 and 12 percent of upperclassmen have not paid their bills by the registration deadline.

"Normally, we clear up 80 percent of [the red dots] by the middle of the week," Homer said. "And a lot of students bring the checks to registration."

Students will receive two registration packets--one containing official forms such as the study card and several information forms to completed, and the other filled with administrative letters, the Handbook for Students, concentration information from individual departments, and pamphlets from campus groups.

Although officials in the office of the registrar said they were uncertain how many groups had bothered to advertise in the general packet, they added that any officially registered group may have access to the 6500 envelopes, if they are willing to stuff them personally.

"We don't monitor it. They staff them themselves," said Diana R. Whitty, manager of publications, classrooms, and examinations in the registrar's office. "The envelopes have been [in Memorial Hall] for three weeks," she added.

But perhaps the biggest hurdle students face will be running the gauntlet of 64 student organizations eager to recruit athletes, politicos, and interested activists.

Along with such traditional groups as the Institute of Politics, various athletic teams, and Phillips Brooks House, students will encounter a number of new groups. These include volunteers for the Mondale Ferraro presidential campaign and a group called the International Development Forum, which is raising money to aid Bangladesh, according to Dean of Students Archie C. Epps III.

Although there are 150 officially recognized student groups, only the 64 who applied to Epps' office received space in the vast plastic tent attached to the south end of Mem Hall for the occasion.

The locations of the tables, which can be strategic in attempts to corral new members, were determined by the registrar's office in a random lottery.

This number is a substantial increase from last year's 40 or so, according to Epps, who added that the total number of student groups has jumped from approximately 120 five years ago.

Epps said he credits part of the increase in the number of student organizations to the greater availability of funding from the three-year-old Undergraduate Council.