Approved 1/23/2002
Instructors in all English classes should be very sparing with overrides. Overrides always increase an instructor’s workload, and often they have the unintended consequence of keeping other English classes from filling to capacity. Students do not have a right to overrides, nor do instructions have an obligation to provide them. They are exceptions to a rule and should be used only in exceptional cases. In certain extremely rare cases, overrides are necessary because of errors made by the Registrar or the Department. In such cases, instructors will be contacted by the Department Chair rather than by an individual student.
An instructor can authorize an override at any time during the registration or add-drop periods. If an instructor knows that he or she is going to give an override to a student, it is best to authorize the override before the semester begins. In such cases, the additional numbers are usually offset by students who drop out of the class during normal enrollment adjustments, and the class does not end up above capacity.
To authorize an override, an instructor should send the student’s name and Shepherd Identification Number, along with the CRN of the course for which the override is being authorized, to the department chair, by electronic mail. The override should be entered within 24 hours, after which the student will still have to officially enroll in the course. The Department Chair’s permission allows a student to register but does not enroll the student in a course.