A large volume of students accessed the Resi dential and Commuter Life (RCL) housing sign-up website Tuesday. Sophomore students with 25 to 39 credits were slated to register, many of whom experienced a slight delay because the sign-up site could not handle the amount of users who signed on.
Jean Wilwohl, associate director of occupancy management for RCL, said Longwood's Informa tion and Instructional Technology Services (IITS) department was contacted about the problem. She said they fixed the server overload by 1:30 p.m., more than three hours after the website opened. Wilwohl said an email was sent to students who were scheduled to register Tuesday informing them the problem had been fixed.
Due to the server problem, Wilwohl said hous ing sign ups remained open three extra hours, un til 7 p.m.
Wilwohl said Tuesday's incident was the first where the system crashed. Within the first five minutes, she said the site was at 100 percent ca pacity. "There were just too many people on there," said Wilwohl. IITS said the server simply could not handle the heavy load.
While most had to wait out the delay, some of the first students on the site were able to sign up. The problem continued as students attempted to login in throughout the day. Wilwohl said by the end of the day, all students who were scheduled to sign up should have been able to complete the process.
RCL officials answered phone calls and emails all day about the problem. A message was put on the RCL website informing students about the portal's problem.
Many students compared the problem to class registration each year. In the past, server prob lems have cause headaches for students wanting to be the first to sign up for classes.
"Most students were understanding of the situ ation," Wilwohl added.
Students who signed on to register for housing on Tuesday, Feb. 28, were locked out due to a server error.
