Before CRISP
In 1971 University of Michigan administrators began thinking about the possibilities for automating the processes by which students enrolled in classes.(1) The system in place at the time involved massive pre-classification events at the Waterman Gymnasium, where tables for each department were set up, and students stood in line to collect punch cards for each course they wanted. After collecting the requisite cards, students would hand them over to the Registrar’s Office, which processed the cards and generated schedules. An average of 25% of all of these schedules had to be returned to students due to overfilled courses and time changes.(2) The University Record wrote of the ritual:
“Prior to the advent of CRISP, [a] student would have vanished into the corridors and chambers of Waterman Gymnasium, emerging in (hopefully) two hours, penciled tentative schedule in hand, confused, and knowing the building as well as the architect who designed it.”(3)
CRISP Beginnings
Bernard Galler, a professor in the Computer and Communication Studies Department, saw in this problem an excellent assignment for his graduate programming course, CCS 673. The idea for 673—a class that focused on real world problem-solving—had already been developed by Galler, along with his colleagues Arden and Flanigan, in a presentation for the International Federation
of Information Processing in Ljubljana in 1971. Their paper, “An Advanced System Programming Course”—published in Information Processing in 1972—describes a model for graduate instruction which simulates the environment of an industrial programming project, where a partially defined problem is given, and students both manage and participate in the design process.(4) According to Galler:
“the system currently in use reflects the historical pattern of growth in which small changes are superimposed on each other in response to demands from many different sources. Changes are difficult to implement, and their consequences difficult to predict.”(5)
Galler ensured that CRISP would be a collaborative effort by inviting representatives from the Data Systems Center (the unit responsible for student information databases) and the Counseling Office to be part of the design team, and to help achieve compatibility with the existing infrastructure.
"CRISPing"
The unlikely acronym, “CRISP” was coined by Galler in his 1971 proposal for the course, and originally stood for “Computerized Registration In Spite of Problems."(6) Some reports tell that the finalized meaning for CRISP—Computerized Registration Involving Student Participation— was brought on by complaints from the Data Systems Center, which found “In Spite of Problems” too silly a title for the University’s official registration system.(7) However, it seems that Galler himself may have called for the change. In a 1972 letter to Lyle Baack at DSC he writes:
“I suggest that henceforth we adopt the interpretation of CRISP to be: Computerized Registration Involving Student Participation. The previous interpretation (…in spite of problems) is too informal for the serious effort we are now undertaking.”(8)
Despite the attempt at seriousness, the name “CRISP” provided the platform for many years of puns and spoofs, including Galler’s 1975 quip, “Maybe eventually we can claim that it Can Really Inspire Students to Perform!”(9)