Survey: Students want printers

While students seem to be happy with the smoking ban in residence halls, many residents hope to see new community printing stations installed in their residence halls.

Results from the Residence Hall Association’s comprehensive survey, sent via e-mail to all residents in November, revealed that more than 92 percent of the 1,468 respondents think that new printing stations would be effective.

Almost 90 percent said they would use printing stations at least once a week.

Despite the support, certain obstacles must be overcome before it becomes a reality, officials said. “The main issue … is, of course, money,” said RHA President Colin Scott.

He said he hopes that in the future, students will be able to print from their rooms to a community computer lab. The program would use software to track the number of documents printed.

Chasity Wilson, the sole candidate for next year’s RHA president, said that if a pilot program is established in a residence community with a great need, other printing stations are a distinct possibility.

Christopher Payne, director of the Department of Housing and Residential Education, said that Ehringhaus Residence Hall already has a printing station, providing the department with prior experience.

“If that’s something that’s of interest, I would want to work with the RHA, as well as ResNet … to figure out how we could make it work.”

The survey also revealed that more than 80 percent of respondents think the ban on smoking in residence halls has been beneficial, and almost 75 percent think the halls are safer because of it.

Wilson also voiced her support for the smoking policy. “I think (the ban) is a good thing,” she said. “And I think we’re accommodating people who are smokers.”

The survey also aimed to gauge if students would participate in the new Connected Learning Program in Cobb Residence Hall, which will reopen this fall after renovations.

Many students — 56 percent — responded as having no opinion on whether they would participate in the program, suggesting most students are not clear about its goal.

Payne described the theme-housing program as being similar in framework to other programs on campus but unique in that it gives students a chance to study topics of interest in a group setting.

But not all of Cobb will be involved in the program.

“Staff will be working to make connections with students who are in the program and students who are not,” he said. “Students can still live in Cobb and not be a part of the program.”

Scott said he is happy with the response rate this year, after last year’s survey was a shorter, less comprehensive questionnaire tackling only smoking issues.

“I’m really pleased with the response rate and also with the quality of responses,” Scott said.

He described the responses as both interesting and helpful while revealing some of the confusion students have about RHA.

“One of the toughest challenges facing RHA today is defining our identity.”

Wilson also underlined RHA’s dedication to students.

“It’s important that residents realize we’re not (resident assistants),” she said. “We are there for them.”

Contact the University Editor at udesk@unc.edu.