Laurel likes being green. So she had a lot to say about the subject of our most recent blog post: BU’s new print policies…here’s her take on it all:
“I love that BU is trying to go green! I think that making students think twice before printing off endless amounts of paper might help reduce paper waste but I believe that many students will still print close to the same amount, but now it will be on their own printers. The price of printers has gone down in recent years but ink cartridges are still expensive, and difficult to recycle when they do run out. Also many of the cheaper printers are not capable of printing on both sides of the paper so students will actually be using more paper. I think that in an effort to go green BU should provide more places for students to recycle, especially near the print centers.
100 sheets a semester is not enough for a college student. Many professors are using journals and other online sources to provide students with the most useful information and in many cases it is necessary for students to print these. As a US History major in many of my classes professors would have us read articles online but we were expected to bring them to class and be able to discuss the reading. I try to do as much reading on the computer as possible but when reading for class I often felt it necessary to print the article so I could take notes right on the paper. I think that if we are only being allowed 100 sheets a semester the cost of extra sheets should be lower then 12 cents a page. It is not possible that it costs 12 cents for one page, and the University should not be making money off of printing when we are only being allowed 100 sheets.
I really like the idea of having central printing centers that students can access on their own computers. We have reached a time where most students have computers in their rooms so it is no longer necessary for the University to provide computer labs that in recent years have turned into a place where most students would just go to print. However most of these computers provided access to programs like Photoshop that do not fit into the budget for many college students. I hope that they will have these programs on the computers at Mugar.
After thinking about this I have realized that this is just an experiment. There will be ups and downs and in time I think that the University will figure out the best solution. I just hope that I have enough money after printing to be able to have a little bit of fun.”
So, as you can see, Laurel and I agree and disagree. She’s got less of a problem with expecting students to have laptops, but feels that asking them to have printers in their rooms could actually be less environmentally friendly than continuing with ResNet labs and printing stations. We both demand an explanation of the low quota, but Laurel also sees the importance of negotiating the over-quota price. So, the debate continues. Sounds like this is going to be a major topic of conversation on campus this fall, or at least here in DOS, so feel free to send us your comments, questions, and concerns.
terrier love,
Celie
