University Business - June 2010 - (Page 6)

EDITOR’S NOTE Think Ink to Help Save the Planet H ow committed are colleges and universities to sustainability and climate change—even at a time when such things as record enrollments combined with budget cuts and furloughs top most people’s list? as you’ll read in this month’s annual “green” issue, the sustainability movement is not only alive and well on campus, but it is also exceeding many expectations. For example, the american college and University Presidents’ climate commitment, formed in 2007 to help minimize the story was perceived elsewhere. “we note also that in the Houston Chronicle, it was placed in greenhouse gases and achieve climate neutrality, continues its work—with impressive results. in an economic downturn, en- its ‘news Bizarre’ section. is saving money and using less ink ‘bivironmental issues typically take a back seat. that clearly isn’t zarre?’ ” asked communications director christopher sampson. “and at the Miami Herald they think that the case with the 677 schools that have this change is worthy of ‘weird news.’ signed the commitment. A simple font switch maybe it’s the oxymoron of printing out also read about the growing moveyour e-mails, but c’mon, practically evment toward eco-friendly technology, could, over time, result erybody does it at least on occasion. or with a collection of tips on how your own in real savings. maybe they’re getting too much sun in institution can help save energy, money, miami and Houston.” and the environment. the topic was also fodder for a prolonged debate by a group But what caught my eye as we were putting this issue toof “type a type types” on the tech-oriented slashdot blog, who gether was a brief news item that came across my desk. officials at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay discov- were eager to one-up one another with their opinions of U wered they could save money on printing costs by switching the green Bay’s ink inspiration. “who was the genius there that had them using ink jet printschool’s default e-mail print font from arial to century gothic. it turns out that century gothic uses roughly 30 percent less ers instead of laser?” asked one commenter. “Probably the same ink, according to diane Blohowiak, the university’s director of genius that thinks this will save them money?” said another: “seriously. if you’re printing e-mails on the computing and information technology. the font doesn’t allow quite as many letters per line, but considering that ink is about school’s inkjet printers, your font is probably not the only change 60 percent of the cost of a printed page, it’s still a savings, she you need to make.” one commenter chimed in: “in most universities the local noted. and with printer ink costing roughly $10,000 a gallon, it has no power to change any of this, and has to walk a lot of that simple change could result in real savings for the school. Just the thought that someone would be able to calculate the very fine lines politically. localized it has both the responsibilsavings produced by squeezing more letters out of an ink car- ity to enforce these edicts, and none of the power to do so.” Yet another pointed out, with supporting links, that printer tridge boggles the mind (or my mind anyway, which typically runs screaming whenever it hears that math is involved). i ap- ink actually costs more than things like human blood or a barrel plaud the University of wisconsin-green Bay’s efforts at saving of crude oil. (i am not making this up.) so, if you’re wondering about the commitment of colleges money down to the pica level. it’s a simple change that, over and universities to sustainability, you can rest easy. they’re thinktime, will make a difference. But what U w-green Bay probably didn’t expect was the re- ing about it. trust me, they’re thinking about it. action that the news of the font switch produced from people who you’d think would have more pressing matters with which to occupy their time. First, there was some dismay from the school itself over how Write to Tim Goral at tgoral@universitybusiness.com. universitybusiness.com 6 | June 2010 http://universitybusiness.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of University Business - June 2010

University Business - June 2010
Contents
Editor's Note
College Index
Company Index
Advisory Board
Behind the News
Sense of Place
Financial Aid
Internet Technology
2010 Higher Education Guide to Audio/Visual Services
Green 2010
Viewpoint
The Quest for Internationals
What's New
End Note

University Business - June 2010