Classes are officially back in session on the Hill, but for some students, they’re one class shorter than expected.

Berea senior Blossom Blanton is one such student.

Earlier this summer, Blanton, a broadcast journalism major, got an email from the Office of the Registrar alerting her that one of the broadcasting classes she had signed up for during the spring semester had been cancelled.

Blanton, who is a semester behind schedule, said she had hoped to use the fall to catch up with her credit hours and place her on track to graduate on time.

Instead, she is now a class and three hours shorter than she had hoped for.

“I think it was nice of them to notify me,” Blanton said. “What I wasn’t happy about was they didn’t tell me why the class was cancelled or what else I could do about it.

“All I got was a email saying my class was cancelled. It was just one line.”

Blanton said she was taking 16 hours this semester, but her schedule has now been reduced to only 13.

Blanton said she has not yet replaced the class and hopes to meet with her advisor this week to discuss her next best option.

University Registrar Frida Eggleton said that the Office of the Registrar does not have any part in canceling classes itself, and its only role in the matter is to notify the student of the schedule change.

Eggleton said that whenever the office is alerted by a department of a class cancellation, they then send out an automated email to the students who were enrolled in the class, alerting them of the change.

“We are simply the messengers,” Eggleton said.

Gordon Emslie, provost and vice-president for Academic Affairs, said it’s up to the respective departments to cancel classes, adding that the most likely reason is that the class offered did not have enough students signed up.

“We can’t afford to have a class that doesn’t have enough students,” he said.

Emslie said the university wants the students to be able to take any class they need, but sometimes it’s not always possible to offer the class.

“We hate that and we encourage students to find course substitutions if they can,” he said.

Emslie said that the inability to find an instructor for the class could also lead to its cancellation, but said that was usually not a factor.

“For most cases it’s due to low enrollment,” he said.

At this point, Blanton doesn’t know when the class she needed will be offered again.

Emslie encouraged to students to find peers they know who are in their same major or take the same classes and try to sign up as well. This way, the class will be less likely to be cancelled.

“Organizing yourself is going to help us help you,” he said.