Northwestern University and Evanston's Only Daily News Source Since 1881

The Daily Northwestern

37° Evanston, IL
Northwestern University and Evanston's Only Daily News Source Since 1881

The Daily Northwestern

Northwestern University and Evanston's Only Daily News Source Since 1881

The Daily Northwestern

Advertisement
Email Newsletter

Sign up to receive our email newsletter in your inbox.



Advertisement

Advertisement

Course search removed from HereandNow site

A mistake made by an Information Technology official allowed an unauthorized course search engine to appear briefly on the HereandNow Web site Sunday night.

McCormick senior Matt Lineen created the course search engine “Brutus,” brutus.northwestern.edu, a software program that allows students to search NU’s winter class listings by characteristics such as course titles and limited phrases such as “meets on Monday.”

Lineen said he created the program so students could search for classes within a certain time frame to fill gaps in their schedules.

Brutus came online Wednesday at midnight, and a link to the site appeared on HereandNow late Sunday afternoon. But Tom Board, director of technology support services, said the program cannot be on the HereandNow because it has not been recognized by the Office of the Registrar.

IT realized the mistake at about 9 a.m. Monday and took down the link. Board cited a “miscommunication between an IT staff person and the people who do work on HereandNow.” Board declined to name the individuals involved in the error.

University Registrar Suzanne Anderson said she did not realize until Monday afternoon that Brutus needed approval by the Office of the Registrar in order to be on HereandNow.

Anderson was told about Brutus on Thursday night at a regular meeting with Associated Student Government Academic Vice President Ebo Dawson-Andoh and members of the ASG Academic Committee.

Anderson said ASG will survey students about Brutus after Jan. 1 to determine student needs and what technology is available. Dawson-Andoh said he hopes to incorporate some features of Brutus into what already is available on CAESAR. Anderson said she does not know when she will decide whether Brutus will be approved.

Anderson said she realized Lineen wanted an official feed and connection to CAESAR, but she did not realize HereandNow was involved.

Lineen said he wants the official feed so he can get information directly from CAESAR and other sources, such as Course and Teacher Evaluations, but he also wants the program to be linked to HereandNow for publicity. Lineen said that during Brutus’ short stint on HereandNow, 800 students used it.

When Lineen saw the link on HereandNow, he assumed that his request for a link had been approved, but was informed the next morning by IT that further approval was required.

Lineen said he has been working on the site off and on for more than a year. The Web site is his project for his Special Topics in Computer Science course this quarter. The program still is in development, and Lineen said student usage this quarter will determine the direction of future improvements.

Education sophomore Katie Sharkey said a friend showed her how to use Brutus. The program is convenient for students who already have three classes and need to find a fourth, she said.

“It’s a really nice way to put your schedule together,” Sharkey said. “This is what has been missing from CAESAR.”

Lineen said Brutus has “a lot of potential.”

“I’d be disappointed if the university does not take what we find here and use it to improve CAESAR,” Lineen said.

More to Discover
Activate Search
Northwestern University and Evanston's Only Daily News Source Since 1881
Course search removed from HereandNow site