Recently the Student Government Association (SGA) expressed concern to the university about the reduction in the printing allotment for new incoming students beginning this 2015-2016 academic year.
A productive exchange between the students and the university focused on the university’s mission: “Illinois Tech will become the most sustainable, urban university campus in the United States.” The university is taking many measures to attain its goal, one of which is to minimize printing on campus. Last year Illinois Tech put four monitors in S.R. Crown Hall so that architecture students could do their presentations without relying on paper.
Illinois Tech possesses the technology tools such as Blackboard and the Google Apps for Education suite that faculty and students can utilize to submit documents, share ideas, and collaborate. Illinois Tech hopes that the university community will utilize those tools and further our pledge to become active participants in helping Illinois Tech reach its goal of becoming the most sustainable, urban university. As of today, Illinois Tech is positioned as one of the top 353 Green Colleges according to the Princeton Review’s 2015 College Rankings. We as a community should make every effort to maintain and improve our position in this ranking.
Illinois Tech calls on faculty and staff to take a leadership role in this effort. Faculty members please take a moment to consider which of the above-mentioned tools you can leverage for the betterment of your students and consider the financial burden we are placing on our students by requiring them to print. Students, please commit yourselves to this goal and encourage your faculty to reevaluate how assignments are submitted.
The Support Desk is available to help the community best utilize these available technology tools. Do not hesitate to reach out to them by calling (312.567.DESK), emailing (supportdesk@iit.edu) or stopping by the 2nd Floor of Galvin Library.
Illinois Tech has many things about which it can be proud. The university community needs to pull together to make this sustainability effort one more illustrious feather in our university’s cap.