Students soon may not be allowed to use University printers without paying a price.
The University administration is considering requiring students to pay for printing at computer labs and libraries on Grounds.
The Printing Advisory Committee, which included representatives from Information Technology and Communications and Printing and Copying Services, as well as Chris Husser, Student Council chief technology advisor, convened earlier this year to evaluate the possibility of charging students for printing. The committee recently submitted its recommendation to the administration.
Anne Lind, associate director of computer support services for ITC, declined to comment on the details of the committee's recommendation.
Council offered its input on the issue through the Council Technology Advisory Committee, which put forth a recommendation to the Printing Advisory Committee.
The Printing Advisory Committee rejected the Council committee's proposal in favor of an alternate one, said Husser, who chairs the Technology Advisory Committee. However, the Printing Advisory Committee did incorporate one Council proposal, which called for allowing students a certain number of pages each semester that they could print or copy for free.
The original idea for the proposal came from students themselves, said Robert F. "Chip" German, director of policy and strategic planning for ITC.
"The impetus came from student concerns about wasted paper," German said.
Council chose not to oppose charging students out of a general sense that the policy is inevitable, College Rep. Sarah Jobe said. "Council will try to make this as painless as possible."
Council members voiced their concerns about a charging policy at a recent Council meeting.
The biggest concern was that students be allowed a "quota" of pages to print for free, Jobe said.
Council members discussed whether students in different disciplines should be allowed different quotas, and whether graduate students should be granted larger quotas than undergraduates, given that different classes may require students to print out different amounts of paper, Jobe added.
Council members also considered a system which would allow students to add pages to their quota according to how many pages professors require them to print out online for class reading.
Charging students for printing is not a new concept. In fact, ITC, PCS and library officials have discussed it for several years, German said.
The Printing Advisory Committee met in 1998, but decided the University did not possess the technology necessary for keeping track of students' printing, Husser said.
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