On Tuesday, April 28, the executive board of the student government arranged a meeting with heads of the Information Technology (IT) department, regarding a surprising change for the upcoming fall semester: no more free printing.

The student government (SG) was only made aware of this change when student ambassadors were advised to no longer mention free printing on their tours with prospective students. They received an e-mail on April 2, stating that "students will still have access to printers and copiers…but will be charged for printing, just like they are now if they go over their 400 page quota."

As several students who are student ambassadors also hold positions on student government, they were caught off guard as to where this change came from, why it was happening, and why student government was not consulted.

The meeting allowed the SG, backed by select administrators, to directly confront the IT department, as well as give the heads of IT a chance to explain themselves.

"It's just money," said Mike Trimble, VP for Info Tech and Security. "My budget has not increased, yet operational requirements have steadily increased each year. There is no other reason but economics."

The SG's main concern was that the current student body, the majority of prospective students, and the student government board themselves were not made aware of these changes.

"The administration is seen through us, and this is our business: the concerns of the students," said Kelly Leather, president-elect of the student government.

When a quota was set in fall 2008 on how many pages of free printing students could have per year, student government was concerned that they were not notified until late in the summer of 2008. Dean of students Larry Wielk pointed out that SG is not fully functioning during the summer months.

"We waited until the summer to tell students, and it looked like that was going to happen again this year," said Wielk. "And that is wrong."

Trimble said that the IT department was trying to get word out to students before they left for the summer, but the change would also be announced in an official university letter regarding a tuition increase.

The student government did not find this to be a sufficient way to notify students.

"I just don't understand how you can go about this and expect that one letter at the end of the summer can do it," said Matthew Choiniere, student government VP of finance. "We are the governing body about the students. If you are going to do what you are trying to do, then come to us and we can work to improve the damage. I can respect that there is a reason behind everything, it is just confusing that we and administration were not consulted."

Jaclyn Bellino, president of the class of 2011 pointed out that students in the school of health professions such as herself are often assigned to print out close to a hundred PowerPoint slides for their classes. Putting a fee on printing means these students will constantly be paying a fee, just to do their homework.

"We made a point of saying that that is an issue with the students who take classes at Cambridge, the school of health professions," said Trimble. "We will communicate with the faculty, but I don't have a lot of sway. I can tell them that every page you ask them to print, that they will have to pay for."

According to the IT, despite the quota, students on average were individually using 176 prints per year. Only 380 students out of 5,744 total students (both undergraduate and graduate,) exceeded their quota for the year. Almost 1,000,100 prints this past year were considered "waste."

"If there's a limit, you're going to be more conscientious," said Trimble.

At 6 cents per page, students will be expected to use money from their general account on their SHU card to pay for printing.

The SG pointed out that nine out of the ten twelve schools that Sacred Heart University is most often compared to offer either free unlimited printing, or a quota on prints per semester. These schools include Fairfield and Quinnipiac University.

"We have accepted the print quota, but now that is being taken away from us. All of these universities that we are competing with have this over us now," said Leather.

Leather concluded the meeting by requesting that the IT go back and review the student government's request to keep at least some form of free printing for students.

"We want this reviewed, we need it reviewed," said Katie Higgins, president of the class of 2010. "I think that would be a step in the right direction."

Trimble agreed on behalf of the IT department to review the student government's requests and reconsider.