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Study Abroad Chronicles: Princeton’s printing problem

The University spoils us in many ways: from late meal to endless T-shirts to extended library hours. Studying abroad has reminded me of these incredible privileges that most students in the United States and around the world will not access during their time in college. However, this convenience clouds our vision, and our pinnacle of privilege is perhaps most apparent in the way we treat printing.

Printing here at the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London as well as at most universities around the world is not free. Students are allotted 10 free credits (equal to around 100 pages) at the beginning of the term and then must “top up” their student ID with five pence per black and white printed page. As a history student, I used my free printing quota for my first class session.

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The last printing statistic available on the University’s website is for the 2008-09 academic year when Princeton students printed 11,040,632 sheets of paper, enough to stretch from Princeton to Salt Lake City, or a stack 17 times taller than Fine Hall. Catchy statistics aside, this is a serious problem — we are all at fault and all together in the solutions.

I had always justified my printing habits because I found I had trouble reading off a computer screen. I like annotating and highlighting readings for reference or reading straight from a book checked out from the library and taking notes in a notebook. This is extravagant.

Every undergraduate student is allotted 2,100 black and white, as well as 200 color sheets per academic year. Graduate students are allotted 3,000 and 200, respectively. Faculty and staff have no print quota, according to the Help Desk. As a “sheet is defined as an actual piece of paper,” students are encouraged to make the most of their printing quota by printing double-sided. If they run out of printing quota, they can just email and receive an additional quota. Most students I’ve talked to who have asked for the additional quota do receive it.

The University is doing its part. Since the first Sustainability Plancame out in 2008, the University has been releasing reports on its progress toward a more sustainable Princeton. In 2013, the University increased its purchasing of general use office paper to 98 percent and increased the portion of purchasing remanufactured printer cartridges to 23 percent.

Paying for printing has forced me to reconsider how I study and change my habits. I now make an effort to read straight from the books in the library or off my laptop. I am upset that it has taken this long for me to realize my printing opulence. Whether an environmentalist or an economist, there are many arguments to be made for saving paper on campus by changing our printing habits. Although student printing accounts for only 20 percent of Princeton’s paper consumption (the rest goes to posters, stationery and invitations), we should listen a little more past the sound of printers and more to the sound of the felled trees.

At this point, I don’t think we can eliminate paper consumption at the University. However, as the “print less” website offers, there are many solutions: taking notes digitally, printing with smaller fonts and margins and selectively printing.

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Let’s listen to The Lorax: “Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot/Nothing is going to get better. It’s not.”

Change at a university often starts with students. Let’s reconsider our printing habits —take the time to print thoughtfully, make the effort to read from library books and remind each other to consider each page before printing it. The average Princeton student uses 1,300 sheets per year, and the number has been steadily increasing since 2004. If each student (undergraduate and graduate) decreased his usage by 500 sheets of paper per year, we would save 1,000 miles of paper. Perhaps the 500 sheets could be saved by copying lecture slides by hand instead of printing them off Blackboard or reading from a book in the library instead of printing out the chapters. It doesn’t have to be New Year's to set resolutions: Let’s try to decrease our printing this November at the very least by making ourselves aware of our waste.

After all, I haven’t yet mentioned my favorite way in which the University spoils us: the kaleidoscope of magnificent trees.

Azza Cohen is a history major fromHighland Park, Ill. She can be reached at accohen@princeton.edu.

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