COST SHIFTING. The administration at Northern Illinois University has discovered that students are printing off their course documents and other stuff at the computer labs, because one of their "economy" measures has been to reduce the supplies budget for the academic departments.

Because of the increase in student enrollment and rules ignored by lab attendants, an excessive amount of paper is wasted in labs. Each year, about 10 to 15 percent more paper is used than allowed and NIU has not received any additional funding for paper. Its yearly budget only allows $150,000 for paper, said ITS supervisor Elizabeth Leake.

Let's leave aside the impracticality of defining "excessive." What's the fix?

While there is no charge for printing right now, more serious measures may be taken if the problem with the increase in paper use each year is not fixed. ITS is thinking about possibly fining students who break the rules, but nothing is set in stone, Leake said. Leake said there has been no discussion of charging at all for printouts and the readers are simply in place to track who is printing what and to keep the rules unbroken so all students are able to receive their fair share of paper. She also said almost all universities have systems similar to this and they have been proven to work as they should.

So much done, so much left to do. "Excessive" and "fair share" and "no charge." Primitives.

RUNNING EXTRA. Northern Illinois University is apparently luckier than some universities. Mike Adams has some fun with the administration at North Carolina-Wilmington, where the computer labs have run out of paper and out of funds to pay the lab staff.

At first, I considered the possibility that the shortage of paper and toner may have been the result of a few selfish students printing out personal emails and otherwise hogging the resources of the collective. But, of course, that doesn’t explain the shutdown of various computer labs over the course of the last year.

Furthermore, such a view would be incompatible with the socialist mindset that pervades this university. Various programs sponsored by the Office of Campus Diversity have taught me that individuals will act in the best interest of the collective, as long as the government sufficiently taxes them and properly oversees the redistribution of public funds.

So, that really leaves me with only one conclusion: A few individuals in the administration are mismanaging student technology fees. In other words, those who control the means of production are oppressing the masses in the student population.

It goes on in a similar vein.