Printing responsibly
The View from the Editorial Board
Issue date: 2/3/10 Section: Opinion
Last April, the Samford Crimson published a staff editorial about proposed changes to Samford's unlimited free printing policy. The editorial board supported quotas on printing, as long as students could freely print hundreds of pages per year before having to pay, and as long as Samford did not make sudden changes without consulting students first (as Samford did when it took away free New York Times, Birmingham News, and USA Today newspapers, a decision we continue to call on Samford to reverse).
Though students may have thought printing was "free," printing costs of up to $30,000 a year meant printing costs were almost certainly showing up in their tuition bill. Furthermore, printing abuse is a reality every student knows well, as attested by long lines at the library printers and the hundreds of pages dumped into the recycling bins. And excessive printing is a burden to the environment, possibly one reason Samford earned a D+ in the new 2010 College Sustainability Report Card.
We are extremely pleased to see that Samford seems to have followed both of our recommendations. Under new printing rules this semester, Samford students can print 500 pages before they hit a quota (and if students print on both the front and back of a page, they are only "charged" for one page.) Once they hit that quota, students will receive an additional allocation of paper and can continue printing for free. The purpose is to make students aware of how much they print, and for Samford to gather more data on printer usage in case it decides to ultimately charge for printing.
We would request that Samford continue to solicit student opinion if it does decide to charge for allocations of paper over 500 pages in future semesters. One pricing scheme that has been floated around - 10 cents per page after a student hits 500 - seems to be excessive, and could unfairly penalize juniors, seniors and graduate students taking classes that routinely require printing large amounts of journal articles, class notes, etc. Perhaps Samford could increase the 500 page limit or charge only five cents per page if it does indeed decide to move to a pricing scheme.
That way, Samford will continue to meet its students' needs while taking steps to protect the environment and prevent abuse.
Though students may have thought printing was "free," printing costs of up to $30,000 a year meant printing costs were almost certainly showing up in their tuition bill. Furthermore, printing abuse is a reality every student knows well, as attested by long lines at the library printers and the hundreds of pages dumped into the recycling bins. And excessive printing is a burden to the environment, possibly one reason Samford earned a D+ in the new 2010 College Sustainability Report Card.
We are extremely pleased to see that Samford seems to have followed both of our recommendations. Under new printing rules this semester, Samford students can print 500 pages before they hit a quota (and if students print on both the front and back of a page, they are only "charged" for one page.) Once they hit that quota, students will receive an additional allocation of paper and can continue printing for free. The purpose is to make students aware of how much they print, and for Samford to gather more data on printer usage in case it decides to ultimately charge for printing.
We would request that Samford continue to solicit student opinion if it does decide to charge for allocations of paper over 500 pages in future semesters. One pricing scheme that has been floated around - 10 cents per page after a student hits 500 - seems to be excessive, and could unfairly penalize juniors, seniors and graduate students taking classes that routinely require printing large amounts of journal articles, class notes, etc. Perhaps Samford could increase the 500 page limit or charge only five cents per page if it does indeed decide to move to a pricing scheme.
That way, Samford will continue to meet its students' needs while taking steps to protect the environment and prevent abuse.
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