Throughout the University, each department has regulations about professors and instructors’ use of supplies and materials. One major regulation that many departments enforce is the use of copy paper among department members.
Andree Gingles, administrative specialist in the Department of Foreign Languages and Literature, said her department does not have regulations on the number of copies teachers can make on handouts; however, they do have regulations as far as tests are concerned.
Gingles said if teachers have to make more than 200 copies of one test, the tests will be sent to a copy service.
Another regulation Gingles said is teachers are expected to make all copies on the front and back of pages.
Although these regulations have been the same for some time, at one point the foreign language department would make one copy of a handout and send it to a copy service, then require students to actually go to the copy service and copy that handout for themselves, Gingles said.
Gingles said this idea was not very effective because there are numerous handouts given out each class period in some cases. She said since there are so many students in certain courses, such as 3,000 students enrolled in Spanish courses per semester, requiring so many students to make copies of one master copy was not efficient.
Since many students are graded on oral examinations or scantron tests, the foreign language department is able to reduce paper usage, Gingles said.
The accounting department has no specific regulations on the number of copies that can be made, said Barbara Apostolou, accounting professor and department chair.
“We do not have a copy allotment, though we do have a budget for paper,” said Apostolou.
The accounting department shares the same rules as the foreign language and literature department in the regulation that all copies are expected to utilize both the front and back of a page.
Apostolou said the usage of paper basically is based on an “honor system,” because teachers are allowed to use the amount of paper that they need and face no regulations about it.
Apostolou also said since many of the introductory accounting courses are using computer-based testing, the department is able to conserve paper.
Another department on campus which regulates the use of copy paper among its members is the math department, said Anthony Picado, an administrative specialist in the math department.
Picado said the math department regulates the use of paper on a monthly basis. He said members of the math department are allowed to make 800 copies per month.
Copies are monitored by assigning each faculty member a code to the copy machine. To use the machine, department members must enter their code and the machine keeps track of the number of copies each individual makes, Picado said.
However, department members are not regulated on the number of copies they print out from computer printers within the department, said Picado.
Picado said in many cases, teachers post information on Semester Book or Blackboard, and have students print the information out themselves in order to conserve paper for the math department.
The English department has the same copy tracking procedures as the math department, though has a different copy allotment.
Emily White, assistant to the chair of the English department, said professors and instructors are allowed 250 copies per class they teach with 40 students or less. She also said when teachers print on the front and back of one page, the machine will count that as two copies.
Martha Strohschein, an English instructor, said she teaches four courses and a total of 89 students this semester and is allowed to make 1,000 copies for the entire semester.
Strohschein said at the beginning of each semester she puts together a large packet for her students and makes it available to them through the Serve-U-Center on Highland Road to help reduce the number of copies she makes.
White said the English department encourages the use of Semester Book, Blackboard and e-mail. This helps teachers reduce the number of copies made.
However, Strohschein said in many cases she does not post information on Blackboard, Semester Book or send an e-mail because she enjoys the element of surprise by students seeing certain text for the first time during class. She said although she could put information up on a screen, it removes the engaging element of the hard copy from students.
“I don’t think students are as engaged in the text when it is presented on a screen,” Strohschein said.
Strohschein said she likes for students to be able to physically mark on the text with highlighters and pens.
Strohschein already has used the amount of paper that she was allotted for this semester and said she has spent $20 of her own money this week making copies.