Student Victim of Printer Ink Colour Persecution

Universities and schools may need to think again about the types of printer ink cartridges they use in their IT hubs.

A student, writing for the Daily Northwestern, the newspaper that represents America's Northwestern University community, has detailed her frustration with the colour of printer ink she uses and the way her university's printing systems are set up.

Ali Elkin says that she has not preferred to use black ink for her projects for many years, instead opting for blue. She has become increasingly annoyed with lecturers who are blocking her attempts to submit work with blue ink. Her use of blue ink is not "a creative choice", she notes.

But because her pleas are falling on deaf ears, Elkin has resorted to using the university facilities, so she can adhere to the style guide and print work in black. Unfortunately this has meant that "a pile of requisite electronic devices" are now sitting unused in the student's home.

However, even the university's library printers aren't quite up to scratch. This is because they use a time-consuming security system that requires the user to enter their online identification and password for every single document they wish to print. And, Elkin notes, this can cause problems when time is of the essence, such as being on a deadline or heading to a tutorial.

So it may be time for university's to revise their printing networks – and it'd be nice if they could let Ali print in blue ink, too. "With the time I save, I may be able to actually read a paragraph or two of the articles I print," she notes.

Posted by Canzil Ahmed.