Several University of Wisconsin students went to their first day of class Tuesday only to find out the class had been canceled without previous notice.

Two classes in two different College of Letters and Science departments canceled courses — but UW never told the students about the changes.

After waiting inside the classroom for about 30 minutes after a 400-level religious studies class was supposed to start, students finally decided to contact the department's office to find out why the instructor never arrived.

"We called the department, and they told us the class had been canceled for the semester, and 'have a good day,'" said UW sophomore Felicia Pendleton, who had signed up for the nonexistent religious studies course.

According to Pendleton, the department made no effort to inform students of the reason behind the cancellation, and several others in her class had to look for new courses in order to keep status as full-time students.

"I was fortunate to stay at 12 credits," Pendleton said.

Religious studies department director Quitman Phillips said the professor assigned to teach the section resigned from his position at UW after registration had already opened.

He said the department has recently hired new personnel, and the miscommunication happened due to a lack of experience of the person handling the situation.

"We deeply regret it and hope [students] all found suitable classes," Phillips said.

African Languages and Literature department chair Antonia Schleicher said a 300-level Arabic course which does not fulfill any requirements necessary for graduation was canceled because the department was short in funding.

"We don't have the resources to teach it," she added.

Schleicher said that the department added four sections to regular Arabic courses and is trying to accommodate students interested in studying the language.

College of Letters and Science Dean Gary Sandefur, however, said the African Languages and Literature department was notified about the cut in funding back in March, but the course was "accidentally opened up."

Sandefur said usually the college would not have allowed students to register in the course and called the two incidents very unusual.

"We went ahead and planned and provided what we needed to do in order for students to have access to take the classes," Sandefur said. "We're hoping that the [state] budget will support that, or else we'll have to make adjustments for next semester."

The Joint Finance Committee is currently discussing the budget, though a deadline for the final numbers has not been discussed.

"Not knowing what the budget is makes it difficult [to add courses]," Sandefur said. "We have to offer courses with higher demand and most important for students to make timely progress toward their degrees."

According to Sandefur, the college has actually added several sections over the past few months due to an anticipated increase of students.

"I don't know why that happened," Sandefur said. "[But] I'll write a note apologizing to students affected."