Smoking print cartridges and disabled printers — both unexpected results of the College’s new printing policy this semester. Everyone is rushing to the computer labs, furiously printing out the entirety of their E-Reserve materials for the rest of the semester.

But smoldering plastic and crowded labs pale in comparison to the future concerns facing students who seek to complete reading assignments essential to their coursework.

Students still have unlimited printing until this Monday before being subjected to the College’s newest action for generating revenue. We will then be charged seven cents for single-sided pages and nine cents for double-sided printing. Given that each student will initially have a mere $10.50 in their printing account, we will only be able to print between 117 and 150 pages before being charged.

After passing this $10.50 quota, we will then have to buy Obie Dollars in order to print a single page. Obie Dollars? Who actually uses Obie Dollars? The College has done little to promote the use of Obie Dollars in past years, and seems to only implement their use when they are strictly to its benefit. Does anyone remember the promised convenience of being able to use Obie Dollars for laundry expenses in the basement of Burton? When the College failed to make good on this promise, it effectively reduced the practical applications and popular appeal of Obie Dollars. Now, it is difficult to imagine students discovering enough compelling reasons to convert their money into Obie Dollars. Coupled with the facts that few businesses in town accept them and few students know how to check the balance of their accounts, it is doubtful how valuable the Dollars will be versus what the College purports them to be, especially if the goal of their enforced use is to promote the town’s economy.

Right now we have to put money into a separate card for copying. This new initiative is meant to be the first step toward an integrated system. The first step? We have heard the same line about the washing machines and quarters, but the College has continued to buy coin-operated washers. If this system is meant to benefit the students, then forcing us to swallow a price increase with an archaic system is not the best way to convince us of the College’s good intentions, to say nothing of the “value” of Obie Dollars.

Obie Dollar concerns aside, this is simply not an effective manner to cut down on printing. Most classes require students to read a variety of course documents off of E-Res, and most classes require that students also bring a printed copy of these documents to class. Some professors in particular demand greater E-Res use since they, in an effort to save students money, reduce the number of required texts. On top of this, the average student can expect to print at least 20 pages for class essays or research papers, not even taking into consideration the necessary drafts, class notes and handouts.

This type of petty increase to the print costs is an unfortunate nuisance to students taking classes in every corner of campus.

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