Chief Information Officer Brett Coryell asked Student Association senators if they would like to render an opinion about changes to the student printing quota at SA Senate’s meeting Sunday.

Coryell said a decision was made a few years ago to centralize and gradually reduce printing by $7 each year, to ultimately reduce the total number of inkjet printers and to add bigger machines as more departments switch to cloud printing.

As of this year, students get $7 per semester for Anywhere Printing, the university’s cloud printing system, with that number expected to drop to $0 next year. Coryell said there’s been a petition posted on Change.org with 500 signatures to keep the printing quota.

Options for printing include increasing, decreasing or keeping the $7 quota; having students pay out-of-pocket for printing, as is intended for next year; adding a student fee for printing, which would be too late to enact for next year; or reallocating technology funds to increase money for printing, Coryell said.

Universities that have made printing not free generally see an 80 percent reduction in printing, Coryell said. Another solution that’s been discussed would be the creation of a one-to-one technology sharing program at NIU in which each student would receive a laptop or tablet to borrow.

“It levels the playing field and attracts attention, but it’s expensive,” Coryell said.

SA Senate Speaker Dillon Domke said Senate would do more research on the topic and form an opinion at a later date.

Athletics

Athletics Director Sean Frazier and basketball head coach spoke to the Senate about future athletic events, including football’s final home game for the season 7 p.m. Tuesday.

“Nothing is more prideful than having school spirit, and athletics [is] a part of that whole process,” Frazier said, adding the weather may be a “bit nippy,” but that shouldn’t stop students from turning out to the game.

Fireworks, hot chocolate and giveaways will be present at Tuesday’s game and ESPN3 will broadcast all NIU football games online, Frazier said.

“I’ve spoken to a number of folks about having student representation from the tailgating process to the overall appearance on television on ESPN2,” Frazier said. “We have a national brand and it starts with the exposure. It’s starts with you, the students.”

Montgomery asked the Senate to promote the upcoming basketball season, which is set to kick off at 3 p.m. Saturday in the Convocation Center, in order to boost student attendance.

“We appreciate all you do for campus, we want you just do to a little bit more … . It’s 72 degrees in the Convocation Center, you don’t have to worry about hot chocolate, and it’s entertaining,” Montgomery said.