Last fall, at the end of my first semester of college, I had a final scheduled on a Saturday afternoon. I informed the professor that I could not take it at that time. I was allowed to take it the following Monday instead.

So I think you know my answer.

What David and Larry said. Go for it.

I'm always dismayed by some people's reactions to fairly innocuous things, like a college's computer automatically assigns you a sign-up date that falls during Shabbat hours. Raise hell? Write up bad press? Scream to the newspapers? Hey, what about bearing no guilt while letting someone know they're doing something wrong? Give everyone the benefit of the doubt. It's a simple mistake.

David Levy's advice is right on. Also, Larry Kaufman's advice is right-on (except for the screaming meemies prematurely to the press). Whatever time they give you, within reason, outside of Shabbat hours, should be adhered to. It's not the world's responsibility to make us comfortable in honoring Shabbat. It's OUR responsibility to do our utmost to negotiate our way through life to honor our religious commitments and accept the difficulties it may entail during our "regular working hours."

Jane, you might try calling the Registrar's office to discuss it with them. Like Brendan and David Levy suggest, I have always found most people more than willing to accommodate you if they simply understand the problem. After all, there are times when Protestants and Catholics need to take off from work too. They have people from many religions at college. "Raising hell" about this without having given them an opportunity to work something out through proper channels strikes me as unjustified.

I have also seen people abuse religious excuses. A not so pious Catholic, took off for all the holidays, then started taking off for Jewish holidays, too. He might have gotten away with it if he hadn't tried to get off for Buddhist holidays as well. Pigs get fat, but hogs get slaughtered.

Update: This morning I received a reply from the executive director of Hillel at Baruch thanking me for the information and indicating that he "will ask Rabbi Miller to check into this and see if there is anything that can be done."

To be continued...

I would still register after Shabbat. After all, the computer does not recognize various calendars,nor days and time zones which vary from country to country. One day in one country is not necessarily the same say in another country.
One can never register before, but one can always register after the registration appointment day and time, usually with little or no serious consequences.

Update: Earlier this morning, Rabbi Miller, Baruch's rabbinic chaplain, called me from Israel to follow-up on yesterday's email. After talking with him, I called the registrar's office and left a detailed message for the person to whom I was directed when I said I wanted to speak to someone about changing my registration timeslot for religious reasons.

I also indicated to Rabbi Miller that -- given the short timeframe -- even if nothing can be done in time for this registration cycle, I am more than willing to work with him and the administration to ensure that such scenarios are avoided in the future.

More to come...

Perhaps it's a generational thing, but I think there's a bit of immaturity showing.
It's not as though they scheduled you at 4:30 on a Friday AFTERNOON, making it really difficult to get home for Shabbat. It's 8:30 IN THE MORNING, for Pete's sake!
In my book -- as a 68-year-old -- that's far before the start of Shabbat, and nothing nefarious is signified. If you whine, you will be considered (at least by me and those like me) as a bit . . . uh . . . rigid and particular. (It's like the ex-wife of a client of mine who could not consider changing visitation from Wednesday to Tuesday to accommodate his business trip, because Tuesday is the night when she vacuumed the house, and she needed the children to carry the vacuum sweeper tools. . . )
If I were your father, I would probably say something like "Grow up, and do your shopping on Thursday. Go to the appointment Friday morning, and make sure either to schedule your classes as conveniently as possible -- or to find a way to change your life pattern. But don't expect the university to change just for you."
Of course, I was always pretty direct with my daughters -- one of whom is now an organizational developer and the other an epidemiologist, so it didn't hurt them too much.

I'm not Jewish but I work in a Jewish Synagogue. I really enjoyed reading this blog. I agree that asking nicely is the way to go. Unless you know for a fact that this was done intentionally, you should treat it as a simple mistake and act accordingly as you would have someone treat you if you were on the other end.

Actually (to the other "Ed"), it's 8:15 PM, not AM.

I agree with David Levy's sage advice, but I also understand that dealing with the CUNY bureaucracy is likely to be frustrating and possibly not initially productive, having a stepdaughter attending a CUNY school.

I know what it's like to ask a secular organization to show sensitivity to Jewish concerns. Growing up in a town in north New Jersey with a large (though not majority, at that time) Jewish population), the Jewish students in the high school graduating class (including myself) requested that none of the Christian clergy speaking at the graduation invoke the phrase "in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord". The high school administration, and later the school board, rejected our request; ultimately benedictions were eliminated entirely from the graduation ceremony.

In the short run, that may not help you out (though I certainly hope that you succeed on the first attempt!), but if you work your way up the line persistently, but not kicking and screaming, you will probably succeed at some point. In doing so, you'll have honored the position of treating others with the same respect that you ask for others in dealing with you, and will gain a reputation of being level-headed.

There's a sad irony that you should be dealing with this issue at a college named after a famous Jewish financier and philanthropist.

I am also a student enrolled at Baruch and in the same situation as you are. I received my registration time for tonight at 7:15 pm. I had the same exact thoughts about contacting the Baruch administration but had the feeling that they would not be sensitive to the situation and would offer me a different slot at a worse time, or tell me that I don't need to register at exactly that time - it's only the earliest that I can register.
Knowing the bureaucracy that I would face, I decided not to contact the school and figured that I would complain once I was not allowed into the classes that I need to take to complete graduate in May.
I had a similar situation when I attended University of Albany for undergrad and they actually had the head of the school register on my behalf. This is something that you should present to the Baruch administration.
I am not quite sure why we are even given registration times that are not between the 9-5 time slot and certainly don't think it is appropriate to be given one on the weekend.
Please keep us posted.

One last update before Shabbat --

In my email exchanges and phone conversation yesterday with Rabbi Craig Miller, Baruch's rabbinic chaplain, he asked that I keep him and Abe Tawil, executive director of Baruch's Hillel in the communication loop. I have just sent the email below to Rabbi Miller with a cc: to Dr. Tawil:

Dear Rabbi Miller,

This morning, having not received a call back from the registrar's office in response to the message I left there yesterday, I contacted the graduate office at the School of Public Affairs to see if there was someone in that office with whom I might speak. I was told that, indeed, the registrar's office is the right one for the issue I raised.

I just called the registrar's office in one last attempt to reach someone there today. A recorded message indicates that "due to very high call volume, no agents are available. Please visit us at...." There is no option to leave a message. Because I was not able to speak with anyone in the registrar's office, I have not been in touch with Ron Aaron [Vice President for Student Development], but will contact him next week if you think it might be helpful in any way.

At this point, however, I believe that I have taken this issue as far as I can regarding tonight's registration timeslot. However, as I indicated to you when we spoke yesterday, I would be more than happy to pursue this matter after the fact to ensure that it is not an issue for me or for other students in subsequent semesters. (FYI, I've been blogging about this matter at http://blogs.rj.org/reform/2008/11/closed-on-shabbat.html and as you'll see in the comments section at the end, there is at least one other student -- and others, I suspect, -- who are equally dismayed and frustrated.)

In any event, I thank you for your time and willingness to be helpful here and hope that we might be able to work together to make a positive change at Baruch for the future.

Shabbat shalom and thank you again.

Thank you, too, to the many readers of this blog who have posted encouraging words and helpful suggestions. They are much appreciated. I wish you all a Shabbat shalom.

Almost a pantheon of religious freedom progress and failure.
That higher education has become it's own worst automated enemy is another irony. The demand affirms the need and the solutions become the problem. Where are the sufficient numbers of paid / hired humans to make the system work?

Though a digression, I am reminded of being in Israel last July, on Friday afternoon. With Shabbat "looming" my wife and I desperately sought out a grocery store to buy enough food, etc. until Saturday night. It really isn't a problem in Tel Aviv, ofcourse, but we were in Maoz Tzion, and not in the mood for Arab food, again. So Shabbat is such a blessing that it forces everyone to do better planning, even in the Holy Land.