After significant budget cuts at Whitman College reduced student printing funds this academic year, student leaders in the Associated Students of Whitman College (ASWC) passed two resolutions calling attention to the financial and accessibility challenges that the change has created.
The resolutions, authored primarily through ASWC’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Committee and supported by the Oversight Committee, were developed in response to widespread student concern following the reduction of college-funded printing credits. In past years, students were able to request refills in printing funds through campus technology services. Now, that support is capped at $35 per year.
Sophomore Anissa Cherif, ASWC Senator for DEI, said the resolutions emerged from conversations about equity and accessibility.
“We ultimately want DEI to be a student resource, so we’re constantly listening for what people [are] talking about. This year, people are really concerned about printing, especially if you’re a humanities major. […] Additionally, some people need to have printed work because I know for people with specific [disabilities], it’s a lot easier to look at a paper than to look at a screen,” Cherif said.
Cherif also emphasized that the issue extends beyond convenience, with many students finding the new printing limitations to be roadblocks to fundamental accessibility and the college’s widely publicized goals to meet financial equity.
“It’s just another financial burden on people, and it’s kind of absurd that if people are going to be spending potentially $100 in printing funds that it’s not a part of financial aid,” Cherif said.
The pair of ASWC resolutions target both faculty and administration. One calls on professors to reconsider course policies requiring printed materials, while the other urges the administration to evaluate the impact of printing costs on lower-income students.
“We want professors in general to advocate and use the capital that they have to do something about it. We’re really trying to create something more systemic and […] voice the fact that you can’t make decisions like this without consulting the student body that’s most affected by this,” Cherif said.
Vice President for Finance and Administration Jeff Hamrick said the change was one of many cost-saving measures taken during a year of steep reductions.
“We did about $2.2 million of base budget cuts by February or so of 2025. The printing reduction was in the first round of cuts. […] Ultimately what the group settled on and that cabinet agreed on and that technology services agreed on is that we would have that $35 cap for the year, and that would not be replenishable,” Hamrick said.
Hamrick said the decision was part of a broader effort to balance the college’s budget, which included several rounds of communal review, including student voices in that review. He acknowledged the challenges of implementing the policy on short notice.
“It would have been great if we had known about this change long enough in advance that faculty could have been educated about this change in process earlier. I acknowledge that this has been a little bit of a bumpy road as we transitioned over to our new way of doing this kind of work, but in the long term, I think we will have solutions that address the DEI issues raised,” Hamrick said.
Hamrick noted that printing costs could, in the future, be integrated into student bookstore accounts, allowing them to be covered by financial aid. But for now, he said, restoring unlimited printing would be too costly.
“The proposal that the students set forth to increase the subsidy level would cost the college about $100,000 a year. That’s equivalent to roughly one faculty line. And considering the tension between a printing subsidy and a faculty line, I’m going to choose the faculty line every day of the week,” Hamrick said.
Dante Diaz ‘27, ASWC’s Chair of Oversight, said the two resolutions are not binding but represent a formal statement of student concern.
“We view the resolution as a conglomerate of individuals or organizations or committees or just constituents who believe that something should be done. Resolutions only have as much effect as the people who see them and potentially hear them. There’s nothing binding about them,” Diaz said.
In a written statement, President Sarah Bolton commended ASWC’s engagement and said the college remains committed to accessibility despite fiscal constraints. Bolton also said the decision was informed both by financial pressures and by student advocacy for sustainability.
“We recognized that there are multiple ways to meet academic needs — through digital texts, the library and other campus resources — while still maintaining access to a certain amount of printing. It is also worth noting that for many years, students have asked the college to take steps to reduce paper use and promote more sustainable practices across campus,” Bolton said.
Bolton added that the administration is listening to students’ concerns.
“While we do not plan to revert to previous unlimited printing funds, Whitman remains deeply committed to supporting students in many other ways. We will continue listening and working together with both students and faculty to ensure the full Whitman experience is both accessible and sustainable for all students,” Bolton said.
As students and faculty adjust to these changes, all are hopeful that some of these bumps in the road will smooth out in coming semesters with adjustments to the syllabus as well as figuring out ways for printing costs to be covered through financial aid to address DEI concerns.
