Editorial: The Cost of Printing

Continuing in the trend of budget cuts that have dominated Campus headlines for over a year now, the introduction of new printing quotas — announced this week — is likely to elicit a variety of responses from the student body, including eye-rolling cynicism, apathetic indifference and indignant outrage. Indeed, such a spread of opinions could be found within our own editorial office on Sunday night.

However, we urge students to consider the true implications of the printing charge. A quota exceeded by 300 pages, for example, will result in a fee of $15, less than a few trips to the Grille. This is a relatively insignificant figure in relation to many of the other budget cuts from the past two years, and we are pleased to find several rational explanations behind the change.

The first and most obvious motivation is economic. The charges to student accounts will help defray the costs of toner, paper and other printing materials that have previously come out of the LIS budget. Second, the administration hopes to inspire a sense of environmental responsibility by changing the way students think about printing. Coupled with the fact that Middlebury remains one of the few schools to offer free printing, these reasons offer a logical motivation for the change.

We do find ourselves disappointed that a change affecting so many was made without our input; while we appreciate the involvement of selected students in determining the printing solution, we feel as though the SGA, as an established voice on campus, might better have been consulted.

That said, while questioning changes on campus is our duty as students, those questions should not always turn up a rejection of the proposed change. With this spirit of moderation in mind, we encourage the student body to remain calm and reasonable while this change is implemented, and to offer thoughtful, constructive feedback to LIS once the new system is underway. Compromise and sacrifice are key to the continued vitality of our community, and we are willing to pony up funds for printing under one condition: that we be treated as any other paying customers would and offered an exemplary service. The burden now falls on LIS to better regulate the conditions of printers on campus, which have seemed particularly sub-par during the current exam week crunch.