In a surprising about-face, Dean of the Faculty William C. Kirby told The Crimson yesterday he has decided to abandon his push to implement undergraduate preregistration.

The proposal for preregistration—Kirby’s first major policy initiative as dean—will not be presented to the full Faculty for a vote this spring, he said.

Instead, the Faculty will focus its attention on addressing the underlying concerns that he said led to the proposal in the first place, including advising, course lotteries and the quality of undergraduate instruction.

“Perhaps we tried to do too much, too quickly,” he said. “It was meant to address real problems.”

Kirby’s decision comes just days after an unusually tempestuous Faculty meeting at which several prominent professors harshly criticized the proposal.

That meeting marked the first major demonstration of any Faculty resistance to the notion of preregistration.

The proposal had previously passed through two Faculty committees, the Committee on Undergraduate Education and the Faculty Council, where it was revised slightly but faced no substantial opposition from professors.

Prior to Tuesday’s meeting, it seemed almost certain that some form of preregistration would be in place by next fall.

But after hearing the criticisms expressed at that meeting—and in angry e-mails sent the following day—Kirby backed down.

By yesterday morning, he had informed Dean of Undergraduate Education Benedict H. Gross ’71 and Associate Dean of Undergraduate Education Jeffrey Wolcowitz of his decision.

But neither Dean of the College Harry R. Lewis ’68 nor any of the Faculty members contacted yesterday by The Crimson had been notified of the dean’s change of heart.

However, by early last night, Undergraduate Council President Rohit Chopra ’04 had posted the breaking news to the council’s e-mail list.

Chopra, who said he had been notified by Wolcowitz, noted that he was pleased that students had been able to sway Faculty opinion on this issue.

Student opposition was a significant factor in the decision to reconsider his plans, according to Kirby.

“There is no point in going ahead if [preregistration] is so unpopular with our students,” he said.