The office previously known as the Office of Student Records has been renamed the Office of the Registrar, according to an email sent out by Tanuja Singh, Loyola’s provost and senior vice president of academic affairs.

The Office of the Registrar will continue to manage the same areas as the Office of Student Records previously did, such as student records, graduation, military students, classroom assignments, and academic calendars. Only the internal administrative hierarchy of the Office of the Registrar will see changes, and the renaming will have a limited effect on the student body, according to the former Director of Student Records and new University Registrar, Kathy Gros.

According to Gros, this name change is, in part, due to the upcoming retirement of Michael Rachal in early 2023.

For years, Rachal and Gros operated the Office of Student Records as co-directors with one handling all student issues and one handling matters related to courses and degree programs. Now, with the office’s internal reorganization, Gros will head the entire department, she said.

Gros said that the Office of Student Records saw Rachal’s retirement as an opportunity to reorganize the internal administration of the office and bring back the Office of the Registrar.

Madelyn Chappel, a physics pre-engineering junior who works as a receptionist at the Office of the Registrar said that the name change will, hopefully, reduce overall confusion and instill a higher sense of professionalism by bringing Loyola’s naming system in line with other institutions.

According to their websites, all seven other Orleans Parish universities and colleges already use some variant of “Office of the Registrar.” This is also true of many other out-of-city and out-of-state institutions.

Ben Benigno, a customer service specialist at the Office of the Registrar, mirrored the same sentiment as Chappel.

Benigno explained that before the name change, many students would call confused, asking if the office was the registrar’s office. He said that by bringing Loyola in line with other institutions, the administration is reducing confusion.

Chappel said that, to her, the name change has merely meant “stuttering while answering the phone” because instead of saying “‘student records,’ it’s ‘registrar’s office’ now,” she said.

Both Chappel and Benigno said that they believe this change will reduce future confusion and facilitate a better understanding of the office’s function.