In response to students’ complaints about the new printing charges, the Associated Student Government tonight plans to vote on a bill to lessen the fees.
Laura Ellis, ASG student services vice president, plans to meet with Information Technology representatives before tonight’s Senate meeting to discuss the printing fees.
Beginning this year, the public computer labs on campus are charging for computer printouts in order to cut down on paper waste.
Ellis, however, said she has received several e-mails from students complaining that they depend on free printing because they don’t own computers themselves, and many don’t appreciate the added expense after paying $30,000 a year to attend Northwestern.
While Bob Taylor, director of Academic Technology, has said that NU is one of the last Big Ten schools to charge for printing, Ellis said NU should not always be compared with those schools.
The printing fee, however, has already made a difference in decreasing the amount of wasted paper at the library and Kresge labs, according to Director of Library Public Relations Kate Walden and Weinberg sophomore Paul Bahra, who works at Kresge’s computer lab.
“This year printing at the library has been reduced by 95 percent from last year,” said Walden, adding that at the height of printing times, such as during Reading Week, as many as 50,000 sheets per week were used.
“The main reason behind this decision is an environmental factor because of the large amounts of wasted paper,” Walden said.
Walden said she expected that students would be upset, but she said University Library officials typically try to be as responsive as possible to students’ concerns, compromising as much as possible.
And many students have said they hope a compromise can be reached.
Weinberg sophomore Laurie Jaeckel said she’s upset because she frequently used the printers last year to print out psychology notes posted on the Web. Now, she plans to cut back.
Jaeckel also said the fee is affecting most of her senior friends who are trying to write their senior theses and cannot print out their necessary research. “It’s terrible. I can’t believe they’re making us pay for such petty things,” she said.
The proposed ASG legislation will ask that a compromise be devised that will limit the amount of wasted paper and costs to the school while also providing students with a discounted rate for printing.
For example, Ellis suggested allotting a certain number of copies to each student to be coded on their WildCARDs. After exceeding this number, students would be charged a fee per copy.
“This will change the student’s mindset and people will be more reserved and less likely to print frivolous material,” said Ellis, a Weinberg junior.
Medill sophomore Christine Tyler said she thinks a compromise would be beneficial because it would allow those students who are not regular users to print.
“If someone’s printer is broken, they shouldn’t have to pay. The regular users, though, are the ones that should be paying something,” Tyler said.
