Registration proctor Thomas E. Glannon said he knew it was going to be a long day yesterday when someone walked up to him in Memorial Hall and asked for John Harvard's registration packet.

Glannon said he searched frantically for the packet and had no success. The student who had claimed to be the University's benefactor then laughed, and apologized for inconveniencing Glannon, the proctor said.

"I'm not registered as John Harvard," the student said, giving the name he was registered under.

Pranksters aside, Glannon said that the vast majority of the 6500 registering students were quite good natured. "Mostly people seemed to be quite patient," Glannon said. "I've been surprised at how extremely polite and aware people have been."

Dread Red Dots

But some of the approximately 1600 students who received red dots on their registration packets said they felt less polite than they appeared. Students whose envelopes bore the dreaded red spots were prohibited from registering because some portion of their term bill remained unpaid.

Instead of receiving their study cards and other material in the main hall, these students were sent to Room 201, where they tried to clear up their term bill troubles.

"I waited in line for an hour. and when I got up there they said, `Oh, you have signed a loan slip? Well then here's your blue slip. You can go,' "said Jonathan B. Bush '91. "What B.S."

"It took them an hour to find out that instead of owing money my parents had actually overpaid," LeeAnn Ebert-Einert '91 said.

The extra wait soured many students on the entire process. "By the time you get the packet, you don't even want it," Lori M. Wiviott '88 said.

Although red dots earned universal hatred, students said they have learned to like the other dots found on registration packets. Green dots saved them time, the students said, by alerting them to the fact that they could sign their loan cards in Memorial Hall and thus avoid a trek to the fifth floor of Holyoke Center.

"Green dots are a wicked good idea," said one student, who asked not to be identified.

Dots weren't the only hazard students had to navigate yesterday. As they entered and left Memorial Hall students found themselves confronted by giant, overhanging partitions with signs urging them to join--for fun and profit--various student organizations.

"Jimmy Carter and Rajiv Gandhi have written for the Harvard International Review. You can too," one sign read.

Many organizations used more than posters to recruit new members. In the alcove between the main hall and Sanders Theatre, members of student organizations accosted their fellow students and tried to convince them to give up their free time for the sake of worthy or enjoyable causes. Recruiters for Paul Simon's presidential campaign even brought a television on which they displayed a video presentation.