To the Editor:
Two points in articles in the Friday issue of The Dartmouth struck me as inconsistent.
In "New plan limits public printing," Michael Herman writes that the College has started charging students for public printing to cut costs "in an era of tightening budgets."
Laura Quayle in her article on "Computer phones on the way," writes that the college is offering "innovative internet phones" to students using Voice Over Internet Protocol, a project that cost the College "a little over $1 million."
The College is cutting corners with student printing, an essential tool for studying that nearly every Dartmouth student uses frequently, but is spending money lavishly on expanding data lines for free long-distance, a service that very few students are aware of, and few will ever use. Should I then assume that Dartmouth College is slowly changing its purpose from educating students to offering pioneering phone services?
I find it even more outrageous that some students are actually supporting the College's new paid printing system. They expect us financial aid recipients to "apply to [that] college committee [which, by the way, hasn't even been formed yet], and there will be a standardized form [which has not been created either] that" we "can fill out and [the committee] can then go through and say if" we "match these qualifications," they will put us in a higher tier of usage. What if we fail to match those qualifications but still cannot afford to pay for printing? Or, what if we go over the new limit?
Dartmouth and its genius students never fail to amaze me.
