Most people on campus do not have a printer in their dorm and rely on either a friend’s printer, the library, Learning Resource Center, Technology Center or various facilities around campus. The convenience of printing in these areas goes away once you factor in sports, different extracurricular activities and/or jobs. This leaves students with less time to complete work and an even smaller amount of time to print these works.
Student Senate has been exploring the possibility of putting printers into residence halls following a student survey earlier this year. Student Senate President Jonah Eckert said his goal is to have printers available later this semester or in the fall at the latest. However, administrators have yet to approve funding for the printers, and additional processing needs to happen before students are able to use university printers in their residence halls, according to Vice President of Student Life Julie DeGraw.
Eckert, along with other members from the Senate, are currently working on the logistics of putting printers in to each residence hall.
“We’re looking at different options for sure with price-wise and different qualities of the printers themselves,” said Eckert. “But that is our plan as Senate to have them in every residence hall.”
“I think it’s ridiculous that printers are not already in dorms,” said Caleb Nesbit, a freshman pre-med and biology major. “There are already computers in most of the dorms around campus, so why not have printers, as well? It is honestly such a hassle with doing late-night work and having to wake up early to go print stuff off.”
Alongside with pre-med and biology, Nesbit also plays soccer. Many other students on campus are involved with sports and extracurricular activities, as well.
With practices and games every day or night of the week, these student athletes become physically and mentally exhausted from a hectic schedule. Sometimes, teams do not even get back until late at night.
Freshman Caleb Nesbit and sophomore Aubrey Bartel are among the students eager to see printers in the residence halls. Photo by Colten McCabe
Students who have on- or off-campus jobs are tired after long hours of work, too. Especially with late-night homework, sports, extracurricular activities and jobs, a lot of time is spent doing things that don’t involve printing off assignments. That is not to say that printing during the day is impossible for students with a lot on their plate, but it does make an even bigger obstacle if students can not even print when they need to.
Many students around campus have already expressed concern about the printers to the Student Senate.
“We did a survey during lunch,” said Eckert. “We had students come write down what their ideas are for improvements on campus…one person put down printers, and then we had a whole bunch of tally marks next to it. It was one of the more popular ones that students wanted.”
Additional processing still needs to happen with administrators as well as the university’s IT staff and Student Senate before a final decision on the printers can happen, DeGraw said.
“We’re still trying to figure out what kinds of printers we’ll be looking at,” Eckert said. “If at all possible, the soonest we could get them in [each residence hall] would be later this semester, but if nothing else, for sure next fall semester.”
Editor’s note: An earlier version of this story indicated that the purchase of the printers had been finalized based on information provided to The Witmarsum. Additional information provided by administrators clarified the process.
