I am writing regarding a column in the November 3rd edition of The Gatepost entitled “FSU Green Initiative Hinders Students.” Although the column appears to be an opinion piece, it is still rife with inaccurate statements. Apparently, the author is burdened by having to walk to the library to print a paper.
Upon addressing this issue at an open forum of the SGA, the author received an answer that was “illogical and press-driven” that “the school used to have printers in every dorm but according to the SGA Executive Board, the reason Rams don’t have access to printers in the dorms is due to the FSU Climate Action Plan (CAP).” The column continues by opining “to put it brutally, the school is more concerned with its green title than the productivity of students.”
As the author of the Climate Action Plan and the campus Sustainable Policies Coordinator, I can assure the author that the CAP was not responsible for her dilemma. To my knowledge, students always had to print at the computer labs and there were never printers in every dorm.
When the CAP was adopted, the personal printers of each faculty and staff member were replaced by centralized printing, much to the chagrin at the time of most of my colleagues. It is now standard operating procedure. The University has significantly reduced printing paper purchases and many assignments have become electronic, keeping in mind that each computer, phone or tablet used for electronic assignments has an energy cost as well. The reduction of paper and toner mandated by the CAP was borne by the faculty and staff, not the students.
While I remain puzzled as to how having to walk to a printer impacts the productivity of a student, I would suggest that the next time the author is given an answer that is illogical and press-driven, they take a walk over to the library to corroborate whether it is actually fact-based.
Carl Hakansson
Geography Department