Student body president Bob Reish announced that Fr. Mark Poorman, Vice President of Student Affairs, approved the Campus Life Council (CLC) resolutions to put printers in every dorm and to re-evaluate the Transfer Student Orientation process in the upcoming semester at the CLC meeting Monday.
"By the end of this summer, we will have printers in all the residence halls" Reish said. "That is a very big accomplishment for our council."
Currently, there are printers in 10 residence halls. The printers were put in as a part of a pilot program, and these printers have been "well-received and used," according to the resolution.
"It wasn't necessarily a need but it was a significant convenience," said student body vice president Grant Schmidt, citing those who do not have easy access to LaFortune or DeBartolo Hall and the crowds that are present at those locations.
The resolution has been passed with the condition that additional printers will not lead to a significant increase in the paper being used.
"Such an increase ... would be counterproductive for the many efforts currently on campus to reduce environmental impact," Poorman said in a letter to Reish approving the resolution.
In order to make sure such an increase does not occur, the Office of Information Technologies will monitor the paper use, the letter said.
"If they see a huge increase in paper usage, that's going to play a factor in possible quotas. It goes along with our mission to stay green. If this becomes so much less sustainable, the university is going to take some action," Reish said.
Reish emphasized that this warning will only be put into action if students are wasteful.
The second resolution calls for the creation of a task force that will review the orientation process for transfer students chaired by Brian Coughlin, the assistant vice president for student activities.
The transfer student orientation puts "a tremendous focus on academics. But there was a gap with the rest of the Notre Dame community and the transfers," said Meg MacCaughey, chair of the task force on new student introduction to Notre Dame. "We've been working to get a more cohesive Notre Dame community."
There is no involvement from student affairs in transfer orientation, which means no rector involvement and no organized ways to meet other students, said Reish.
The committee will be composed of students, rectors and administrative staff and will meet to review the transfer orientation process. It is expected to bring its assessment and recommendations to Poorman for approval by the end of April.
Although this resolution will not be as visible as printers in every dorm, Reish said both resolutions show "how something can be brought to Student Government's attention [and] when worked through the correct channels, it shows the administrations listening to students and taking action."
