I am writing in regard to the complaints addressed by Katherine Wade’s article “Some students push to print more,” April 15, noting that WKU has set a limit on the number of pages a student may print in a year. It appears that she did not talk to members of GreenToppers or people who care that WKU might have to raise tuition to cover the cost of paper and printing.

There are at least two solutions to that problem. First, the students might ask the professor to display the slides in class. They could then take notes from them, preferably on the back of the 1,500 pages they have already printed. If they have already printed on both sides of the paper, they can then get additional paper from any classroom waste basket. That is one of the sources of the paper I use for handouts and tests in my classes. It has been many years since I have been forced to use paper that had not been previously used.

Second, if the slides are not projected in class, they could take notes from the slides displayed on the computer. No learning takes place during the process of printing. However, paraphrasing what is on the slides can aid learning. If the slides contain charts or graphs, one can summarize the important data. If the slides contain diagrams of the human body, one might make an exception by printing one or two and adding details from the others.

Thus, they can preserve the earth for future generations. At the same time they can learn the material that is on the slides.

Joan Krenzin

Sociology professor