The Mudd A level recycling bin is looking noticeably less overstuffed. That’s because for the first time since 1996 the College has significantly reduced the number of pages students can print for free. The new printing policy went into effect Feb. 16, after a week-long free printing marathon during which people who had read the Feb. 9 notice from CIT hightailed it over to their local computer lab and printed out a semester’s worth of ERes.

All students, as well as faculty and staff with OCIDs, were given a $10.50 “printing allowance” in ObieDollars. Printing costs are $0.07 per page, and $0.09 per page if printed duplex, which averages out to 150 and 233 free pages per semester respectively.

Many students with ERes reading have complained the policy is not “conducive to a studying environment” and is “obnoxious,” while others have praised it as environmentally conscious.

“It’s very expensive, and it’s a hassle!” Janet Cerda, junior studio art and spanish major printing a 60 page article off ERes, said. Cerda estimated that she had about half of her quota left, and had to print every week.

“I like it because it saves paper and it encourages people to only print the important stuff, so I don’t have to spend an hour waiting for my print job,” said Caleb Baker, a sophomore politics major.

“I don’t print very much in the library and I have a printer at home, so I’m not very concerned,” James Blackburn, a senior East Asian Studies major, said.

Professors were not notified about the policy and did not modify their readings. Nevertheless, many were not about to make changes out of sympathy for students wanting to print out all their ERes documents.

“Though a student told me about the new policy, no one sent me an email about it,” East Asian Studies Professor James Dobbins said. “But I would have left my ERes readings as they are. The ERes is not for printing, but also for downloading and reading on their computers. ERes is supposed to keep book costs down.”

“This semester there are 211 courses on ERes. That includes humanities, sciences and conservatory courses,” Reserve Room Manager Julie Weir said.

Dobbins alone has two courses using 40 documents totaling 1011 pages on ERes.

Dobbins was echoed by Center for Information Technology Director John Bucher who said papers, reserve readings, and lab reports were all legitimate printing needs, but that ERes was a matter of convenience which has caused an elevated demand for printing.

“The system was designed to offset the escalating costs of consumables and repair involved in printing, and we’re not even close to breaking even,” Bucher said. “However, it will also allow the College to more easily justify using 100 percent recycled paper, which costs about 50 percent more per ream, and even enable us to offer color printing on a much more convenient basis in the future.”

Last semester Oberlin students used 1,047,000 sheets of paper in the computer labs. While it’s still too early to have any concrete statistics about how things are going at Oberlin this semester, about one in three U.S. colleges have already instituted similar print policies, CUT officials said.

Wooster College started using the Pharos system in July 2003. They charge five and seven cents per single sided and duplex pages respectively and their free allotment is between $60 for freshman and $100 for seniors, depending on class year.

“The waste we had experienced in previous years is down 80 percent,” Wooster College Manager of User Services Kathy Breitenbucher said.

Amherst, Smith and Wesleyan charge between five and 10 cents per page with no free pages. Carleton, Colgate and Denison all provide free printing, as does Swarthmore, which is currently researching and testing their options, according to Manager of Client Services and Special Projects Robin Jacobsen.