Brown and White Vol. 118 no. 4

              By OPEYEMI AKINBAMIDELE
Lehigh implemented a waste tracking system on all computers in public computing sites, to let students know their impact on the environment.
PaperCut, the paper waste tracking software, allows students and faculty to view the number of pages printed, how much they have spent in printing and the environmental impact from printing. The environmental impact includes the number of trees killed as a result, how many grams of carbon dioxide have been emitted and how much electricity has been used.
Lehigh has been using the software for three years, but ac­cording to Sharon Wiles-Young, director of Library Access Services, “We did not put the software on all of the computers before because it translates the amount of paper used in costs, and we didn’t want people to get nervous and think we are charg­ing them.
“Lehigh is one of the few campuses that does not charge for printing. Most campuses have quotas,” she added.
Chris Devulder, ’12, said his friend at Cornell University had a 500-page printing quota per month.
Lehigh’s goal is to become a greener campus and educate students to become more aware of their printing habits, Wiles-Young said.
“We are trying to notify stu­dents about how much they have printed this semester,” she said.
During the week of Jan. 24-30, two people printed more than 1,000 pages, and 11 printed more than 500 pages.
“There is only a small amount of students and faculty doing excessive amounts of printing,” Wiles-Young said.
The printing committee plans to notify and talk to students who are printing 1,000 pages or more in a week through an educational, but not a punitive, process.
Wiles-Young said Rauch Business Center and Fairchild-Martindale Library are the prime areas where excessive amounts of printing and unclaimed docu­ments are found.
Austin Tenette, ’11, admit­ted to deserting multiple copies of his documents in the Rauch computer room.
“Sometimes, I print on multi­ple printers, just in case a printer does not work,” Tenette said. “In most cases, I do this out of frus­tration and not habit.”
Stacey Kimmel, team leader for the help desk at Fairmart, was concerned about the ex­cessive amounts of printing at Fairmart and decided to help launch a green campaign to demonstrate how much paper was being wasted, Wiles-Young said.
Kent Lorenz, ’13, said he tries to avoid printing excessively be­cause it is a waste and the money could go to other things.
“I see people who print 100 PowerPoint slides, when they could just look at it on their computer,” Lorenz said. “It is ridiculous!”
Some students said even though the possibility of reading documents off of their computers is there, they find it very incon­venient and possibly detrimental for their study habits, so they are forced to print out large amounts of paper.
Maria Korzec, ’11, said her classes require her to print as much as 30 pages a day. “I could read my articles and PowerPoint slides off of the computer, but I can’t have notes, and sometimes the documents are scanned up­side down, so it is just easier for me to print it out.”
Some students have taken it upon themselves to reuse the mounds of wasted paper.
“Sometimes if I need scrap paper, I’ll go into the recycle bin,” Julia Pieper, ’12, said. “I am doing my small part to decrease the paper usage at Lehigh.”
“Anytime I pass the printer, I see a lot of abandoned paper,” Devulder said. “So, I use it as draft paper.”
Jared Cawada, ’10, said “I only print the pages I need and make my documents double-sided. I hate the fact that when I go to a printer, it’s empty and there are tons of paper that has not been picked up.”
Computers track carbon footprint
n Lehigh aims to spread awareness of the envi­ronmental impact of excess printing by monitor­ing paper usage on university computers.
Vol. 118 No. 5
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
‘All the Lehigh News First’
THE BROWN AND WHITE
Lehigh University’s Student Newspaper Founded in 1894
SPORTS
Women’s basketball tied for first
Page 12
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Reinventing
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Page 5
LIFESTYLE
By LAURA QUAGLIARIELLO
Gender-neutral housing will be available to upper-class students starting fall 2010.
The new gender-neutral hous­ing policy states two or more stu­dents may share a room, suite or apartment without regards to gen­der. However, the students must be in joint agreement to do so.
This special housing option is a result of collaboration between the Office of Residence Life, the Office of Residential Services and the LGBTQIA office. Commit­tee members Timothy Gardner, Danielle Jones, Kerri Kloorfain, Jennifer Scaia, Melissa Scott and Kari Spinks have worked together to bring gender-neutral housing to Lehigh.
According to Jennifer Scaia, director of the residence life office, many colleges and universities across the country have imple­mented gender-neutral housing options. Many Lehigh students expressed an interest in such an option to Timothy Gardner, direc­tor of the LGBTQA office.
“It wasn’t something coming from administrators; it was com­ing from students,” Kari Spinks, assistant director of the residence life office, said.
Lehigh compared itself to various analogous institutions and found that over half of its peer institutions have gender-neutral housing options.
Danielle Jones, assistant direc­tor of residential services, said there has been an increase in the number of prospective students who inquire about gender-neutral housing when applying.
Lehigh has a non-discrimi­nation policy and believes in social justice in regards to sexual orientation, gender and gender identity/expression. Based on this policy, Scaia said the gender-neutral housing option was a good opportunity for Lehigh.
“The option is out there for students off campus, so we wanted to bring it on campus,” she said.
“For us, being successful is not about having 10 rooms or 20 rooms of gender-neutral housing.
“It’s more about meeting the needs of students who think it’s a good option. If we meet a few students’ needs, then that’s what we’re trying to do.”
Ricky Hernandez, ’11, presi­dent of the LGBTQIA student club SPECTRUM, said he is sup­portive of the housing option.
“I feel gender-neutral housing is a logical next step for Lehigh in its efforts to make the university a more welcoming and comfortable place for those who identify as LGBTQIA,” he said.
“Gender-neutral housing will hopefully give people who are not comfortable identifying them­selves under our current gender classifications a place to feel more at home and comfortable.”
Hernandez is optimistic this step will attract more transgen­dered or intersex students to Lehigh. “I hope it will enhance the community that much more,” he said.
Many students agreed.
“I think that it’s a good idea,” Alex Smith, ’12, said. “We’re in college, and we deserve that free­dom and that choice.”
Laura Murray, ’12, said, “I would not want to live in a little dorm room with a guy. But if someone wanted to do it, and they thought they could get along and it wouldn’t be awkward, then I’m sure they can make it work.”
Residential Services has yet to decide where the gender-neutral housing will be located.
“Once we see how many students are interested and in­volved, we will decide on where to place them,” Scaia said. “It’s just depending on the number of interest.”
Scaia said the option will sup­port students who are gender non-conforming or transgender, but she believes many students may simply want to live with room­mates of the opposite gender.
Spinks said the option will bring up interesting conversation for students about sex and gender.
The application to be consid­ered for gender-neutral housing is due between Feb. 15 and 19 to the Office of Residential Services.
Winter wonderland
B&W photo by CHRISTOPHER CHEW
The Lehigh Valley received about six inches of snow, forcing events on campus, like Parents Night Out and Saturday’s wrestling match, to be cancelled.
Gender-neutral dorms
offered next semester