Meeting with Mr. Witryk

Mr. Witryk is the head of the registrar here at the Culinary Institute of America. We pride ourselves mainly on our image, but also on mise en place, preparation, and organization. At least I think we do.
The first thing I noticed when I walked into Mr. Witryks office was the glaring lack of a computer. After looking around I finally noticed an old laptop hooked up to a keyboard in a back corner of the office. Piles of paper covered his desk and the desk and bookshelves behind him. Mind you, this man is responsible for organizing the schedules of the entire student body.
I sat down and told him about how great my experience was in the AOS program and the opportunities I have already had as a result. (I got through before they started really changing things up in the AOS.) Then it was time to talk about what it means to get my schedule the weekend before a semester starts. He apologized and started discussing the new system that is being incorporated for the schedules. He told me this is only the third time eRegistration has been used and it only has about a 90% success rate. When I asked him about class sizes and why some of the classes were combined or beyond the limit he asked how big my gen. ed. college classes had been at University of New Hampshire. I told him around a hundred or so kids. He was trying to say that is acceptable for the CIA. I asked what he thought a comfortable level for the teachers is and he told me thirty to forty is "perfectly fine." I was astounded. Most teachers I have talked to don't like more than twenty students. Most community colleges don't have more that an 20:1 student:teacher ratio. Here at the worlds premier culinary college where we pay ten times the tuition its ok for the ratio to be 40:1 (stop by the psychology class Tuesday nights in W304 to see what 40:1 looks like.)
The meeting continued for almost an hour. About half-way through we were interrupted by his secretary who had a teacher on the phone who was supposed to be teaching a class in a room that was already filled. What did he to to find a new room? No computer remember, he pulls out a paper clipped stack of schedules with a room number at the top of each. This is how its organized? A stack of paper schedules in 2008? No wonder the organization is failing.
My last point for now. We got onto the subject of President Ryan. Mr. Wytrik informed me that his responsibilities do not rest with the students. He does not and should no consider the students in his job. Instead, according to My. Wytrik, his responsibilities include raising money and promoting the reputation of the school. I told him I felt differently. And so it is.