MANY STUDENTS at the University have been troubled by recent announcements regarding the implementation of a printing limit in ITC public computing labs. For those caught totally off-guard by these announcements, please note that the topic of fee-for-printing is not a new one. Information Technology and Communications has researched, discussed and delayed the implementation of limits and fee-for-printing for a long time. State budgetary cuts have forced ITC as well as the University library system into our present situation.
Whether one believes these decisions were made fairly seems immaterial in light of the astounding statistics on University printing. In 1995, the total printing count between ITC Public Computing Labs and the University library system was nearly 8.1 million sheets of paper. This number has risen over 200 percent to a total of 24 million sheets of paper per year between ITC and the library system. Although the growing student population and increase of online course materials can be attributed to part of this increase, few students can testify to having visited a public printing facility and not having seen mountains of wasted paper lying on, around or near a printer. While both enrollment and online materials have increased, student responsibility seems to have declined. University environmental groups have been pointing this out for years now -- students must be held accountable for and prevented from wasting unnecessary paper.
Is the limit system perfect? Absolutely not -- it remains to be seen whether 500 sides of printing will be enough for most students at the University when it comes to their academic materials. It can be said, however, that the implementation and specific details of the system were decided upon quite fairly. The decision allowing students 500 sides of material came from dividing the number of pages printed on ITC printers last year by the number of enrolled students and rounding up significantly.
We are in a budgetary crisis now and everyone should be conscious of what they print. When students print from public labs, they will see their limit and how much of it they have used. E-mails reminding students of their current limit amount will be sent at regular intervals, and a student will know well in advance when they get to the point where their limit is about to run out. Even if a student does use up his limit, he need not worry about having no option to print. Students who have expended their limit may go to card-swipe PCS workstations that will be available by mid-September in Alderman, Clemons, Science & Engineering, and the Fine Arts library. Using these workstations, students will be able to print their work using a pre-paid deposit with their University ID, Cavalier Advantage or copy-card. The fee-for-printing is necessary to maintain the still free 500 sides of pages allowed per student per semester.
If you're still mistrustful of the University and ITC's motives regarding this matter despite the statistics, consider the following: ITC is not saving money by the implementation of a limit system, but rather is keeping its costs at the same, and arguably exorbitant, levels they were last year. The implementation of the limit system should not change the flow of printing in the labs. However, the elimination of more than 40 printers by the library system due to the budget crisis will cause a noticeable increase in demand. These printers processed 11 million pages last year. If ITC were the only organization providing free public printing, costs would have nearly doubled for the organization. If ITC had to absorb the cost of 11 million additional pages printed from its printers, major cutbacks would undoubtedly have occurred in other services. Had a limit system not been implemented, students might have found a Thornton Stacks with only 10 PCs, a Cocke Hall with only a single Macintosh and perhaps a Clemons Library with no public lab at all.
The limit system is only a temporary fix to a long-term problem. The cost of operating and maintaining free public printing are still extremely high. Subsequently, fee-for-printing will be implemented at the end of Spring 2003. This, like the decision on the limit system, is an action that will bring no additional funds to ITC, but rather will help offset the overhead costs. By allowing Printing & Copying Services to assume the role of operation and maintenance managers for public printing, ITC has given itself an excellent opportunity to focus on other student needs, to develop other student services and generally to maintain the high quality of its already existing services.
(Chris Husser is a fourth-year College student and the Chair of the Student Information Technology Advisory Committee.)
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