Laser printing more popular

Computing says some students are abusing free service

Computing Center staff is concerned about what they consider to be the abuse of free laser printing priveleges that were extended to students only a week ago.

Free laser printing has been available since April 15, in what is considered to be a test that will run through the remainder of the academic year. The Computing Center has been monitoring the number of pages printed per day both before and after the switch to free laser printing.

Though the average number of pages laser printed per day has jumped from about 1,028 to 2,126, according to Director of Client Services Kevin Weidenbaum, it is not the increase in printing that disturbs Computing Center staff- it is what they consider to be an increase in wasteful printing. "We expected some abuse," Weidenbaum said, "but we're bothered by the extent of it."

He said that the increase in pages printed isn't alarming if the printing is "honest, good printing," and added that the Computing Center expected an increase in printing once it was made free.

Examples of abuse include printing as many as 400 pages of the World Wide Web and papers that have had only minor changes made to them.

Karen Arcaba, a production supervisor, said a big cause of the wastefulness is that students now print things that they don't even bother to pick up. She said that before free printing was instituted students would make sure that what they were printing was something they "really, really wanted because they had to pay."

Now, Arcaba said, "[Students] print whatever they like."

New printing policies posted in A-Level state only one rule - that students can print "only one copy because only one copy will be distributed."

Printing guidelines, however, state that printing can only be done for academic purposes, that students should consider Duplex Printing (printing on both sides of a piece of paper) and Two-Up Printing (printing two pages on one sheet of paper), that students should use discretion when printing stuff off the World Wide Web and that the copy machines, not the laser printer, should be used for making copies.

The postings warn, "If abuses are severe and often the testing period will be halted prematurely and charging for laser printing will be immediately reinstated."

Weidenbaum said that no date has yet been set to revoke the free laser printing priveleges and that such an option has not been discussed. He said that first the Computing Center will try to affect the general attitude toward laser printing and educate students. "We'll let the experiment run a little longer," Weidenbaum said. He said that the students need to get used to the idea of free laser printing.

"Most students probably appreciate the fact that we've stopped charging," Weidenbaum said. He said that those who print wastefully need to realize that their actions could lead to the loss of priveleges for everyone.

"Our hope," he continued, "is to convince the Obie mind that it isn't cool to waste paper and it isn't cool to abuse a privelege that, while it may be free to them, is costing money."

Arcaba said that students are not proving themselves to be very ecologically minded.

She also said that since laser printing was made free, students have grown more demanding. "They want [what they print] right now," Arcaba said, adding that papers still have to have time to print.