At almost any college, administrators at least pay lip service to the student voice. At Dartmouth, however, we all hope that they do more than that. We hope our administration really listens to and considers students' opinions when making decisions concerning College policy. Well, pretty soon we'll all get to see if this is in fact the case.
A group of concerned students is in the process of approaching the administration, including President-elect James Wright, concerning the printing policies at Kiewit. The particular issues that these students are addressing include Kiewit's policies of sorting papers only on the half hour and prohibiting multiple copies of any document. By waiting for each half-hour mark to sort papers, Kiewit workers highly inconvenience Dartmouth students. With our busy schedules packed with classes, homework and extracurricular activities, time is of the essence to each and every one of us.
Furthermore, Kiewit workers have no good reason for making each of us wait for half an hour to receive our papers. I just do not see why whatever worker is manning the printers cannot sort papers as they are printed. Isn't that what these workers are being paid to do? In addition to its sheer inconvenience without sufficient cause, this policy splits the student body along socio-economic class lines. Students who can afford to have their own printers do not have to deal with the time hassle of Kiewit's sorting policy and thus have more time to devote to other things. With things like need-blind admissions and financial aid, Dartmouth attempts not to discriminate in terms of financial status in other areas, so Kiewit's policies should be changed to fit Dartmouth's overall attitude on this issue.
The prohibition of multiple copies is, in my opinion, an even more serious issue. First of all, it is an annoyance, particularly for those of us who like to print two copies of a paper to have one as a back up. Secondly, this policy also favors students of a higher socio-economic class. Take student government campaigns for an example. Students often create flyers on their computers that they then wish to print and hang around campus. If students can use Kiewit's free printing services for this purpose, then all candidates have an equal opportunity to campaign. However, since they were not allowed to do this, those candidates with more money to spend at the student copy center were given an upper hand. The most important point against this policy, however, is that it violates students' right to privacy. In order to determine if a student is printing multiple copies of a particular document, the workers at Kiewit must read the documents that are printed there. This is a violation that Dartmouth students should not tolerate.
I don't believe we are asking for all that much. We pay close to $30,000 annually to attend this College, and I feel that we deserve fair printing policies that do not cause us unnecessary inconvenience (God knows we all have enough necessary inconvenience in our lives), favor students based on financial status or violate students' rights. Well, I suppose we are asking for a little more than that. The dispute over Kiewit's printing policies, while an extremely important issue in and of itself, is actually indicative of a larger issue on this campus -- the audibility of the student voice.
The amount of rhetoric concerning the amazing opportunity students have to make our voice heard to the new administration has been overwhelming. But it is, I hope, far more than rhetoric. I believe that we do have great potential for increasing student influence on the important decisions made on this campus. I am intensely curious to see how President-elect Wright will respond to the students' concern over Kiewit's printing policies.
His response can set the tone for the relationship between the student body and the new administration. I hope he will show us that the new administration will do more than pay lip service to student concerns. He has said that he cares about the students, and now we are handing him the chance to prove this. He has the hopes of the student body in his hands, not only for just printing policies, but also for a just administration, and we must all pray that he does not let us down.
