STAFF EDIT: A page toward progress

The Student Union took a step in the right direction last night by holding an informational session publicizing the much-overlooked remote printing feature available to all networked computers. Though the university network has been equipped to do this for years, the Union recognized that too few students knew about this service and acted unilaterally to spread the word. Now, the Union should follow up on this first step by pushing for tougher changes this spring.

Even those students who did not attend the informational session will hear of the Union's efforts through the grapevine, and the benefits of the feature extend to the whole university community: the more students send print jobs from dormitory rooms and other locations, the fewer bottlenecks there will be at crowded computer labs. Instead of standing in front of a printer for minutes at a time, students can send their work to print, spend the down time productively and pick up their documents when the network notifies them they are ready.

Members of the Union's Technology Committee recognized that university administrators do not have the time or inclination to aggressively publicize every college service available to students. Even if the change would not attract controversy, the university will not do everything for the student community, even if requested. In the future, other Student Union initiatives should follow last night's example by making changes on its own instead of waiting for administration approval.

There are plenty of pressing issues that call for leadership, including providing a medical amnesty policy and bike cages for heavily-trafficked areas. No matter which of these topics the Union chooses to tackle first, it must do so quickly and avoid dropping the issue until it achieves its goal. With strong leadership, the Union can reassert itself as students' first resource for any request rather than leaving that responsibility to the administration.