Intentions of new paper quota lost in hasty start

Printing a paper or reading for class has rarely been easy at Vassar. Three years ago, Library printers were often jammed or backlogged with abandoned print jobs. As a remedy the College instituted a VPrint system with print release stations and a convenient QuickPrint location. This year, however, printing at Vassar backslid into its inefficient ways. The College has instituted a new printing system with a 1,300-sheet paper quota per year, after which students must pay by the sheet.

This new system has been far from successful. Alongside technical problems, students have a new source of anxiety with the concern of exceeding the quota. Furthermore, the system was implemented with little input from faculty and students, the two College constituencies most affected by the change.

Thus far, VPrint’s technical difficulties have made the simple task of printing a Blackboard reading into a half-hour (and often fruitless) ordeal. The new printers have rarely all been on line at the same time, and many older I.D. cards do not work in the new machines, since the print system designers were unaware of changes to the Card Office’s encryption method. As a result of these problems, many students have decided simply not to print their readings, electing to avoid long lines, finicky machines, and faulty cards.

Also, the student body as a whole is still largely confused about the concept of the printing quota. While Computing and Information Services (CIS) has said that 90 percent of students will be unaffected by the new quota based on research from last year (since most students print fewer than 1,300 pages), it is unclear who constitutes the remaining 10 percent. Most of the student body is concerned that they are the ones who exceeded the quota last year. In particular, humanities and social science students, seniors with theses, and research assistants, all students who arguably print more than others, feel disadvantaged by the quota of pages.

The College has posted fliers in the Library telling students to read on-screen when possible. However, for class readings, this solution is unacceptable, as most professors require students to bring their readings to class for discussion. In fact, the new system works against Vassar’s recent push for increased use of Blackboard and other Internet tools. The Library has urged faculty to put much of their material on Electronic Reserves and Blackboard, and a record number have done so. The changes undermine the purpose of these online resources designed to replace the hard-copy reserves, which required students to photocopy their readings at an expense.

CIS has suggested that students who seriously fear exceeding their quota can request that it be augmented; this solution would be fine, but has been poorly advertised as a possibility.

Furthermore, some features of the quota are not consistent with its stated purpose of reducing paper waste. The most egregious incongruity is that double-sided printing costs the same amount as printing single-sided on two sheets ($.10). In other words, there is no incentive in the quota system to print double-sided, despite the warnings posted about paper conservation. If students are being asked to purchase sheets of paper, then they should receive the number of pages they are charged for.

For better or worse, change often takes a great deal of time and effort at Vassar as the College vetts new programs and policies to minimize adverse effects. With VPrint the change was sudden, and there was little opportunity for campus discussion.

The faculty was notified of the change just days before it went into effect, and students (including the Vassar Student Association leadership) were unaware of the update until they returned to campus. Even the Library was not properly consulted regarding the printing system.

Many Electronic Reserves are scanned using a high resolution, resulting in large file sizes. As a result, the new printers are bogged down with the high-quality images that students are printing from Electronic Reserves, and at times crashing completely. Perhaps if more groups such as the faculty, majors committees, and other academic groups had been consulted beforehand, these problems would not have arisen.

Admittedly, the VPrint system is not a complete failure—many of its critics acknowledge that it is better than the pre-VPrint system. There are more printing stations in the Library than before, and hopefully the system will make students more aware of how much paper they use. The College’s charge per page is cheaper than other schools’ (which typically charge $.10 to $.15 cents per page, as opposed to Vassar’s $.05 per page) and more expansive than other schools’ quotas for free printing.

Nevertheless, the current system is decidedly flawed. Between now and the end of the semester, when the administration will review the quota, the College should follow up on the research and dialogue that was heretofore too near-sighted. Most importantly, the College should directly address the questions and concerns that students have.

The Staff Editorial represents at least two-thirds of the 13-member editorial board.