As Kean restarts for a fall semester with health and safety a chief concern, the university has made appropriate changes to many student resources around campus. Between Sept. 21 and Thanksgiving, when nearly a quarter of classes will return in face-to-face and hybrid settings, the adjustments made to printing services within the campus computer labs will be invaluable.
The university remains committed to conservation and environmentally conscious goals, and has maintained the policy introduced in the fall of 2019 that budgets 300 pages (or $30 worth of printing) to each student throughout the semester, with each page costing 10 cents. Students can, however, add to their accounts to continue printing if need be, by contacting the university's support team by email at support@kean.edu.
Printing is available at each of the university's computer labs, located at the Nancy Thompson Learning Commons (NTLC), the Miron Student Center (MSC), Room 105 and the New Upper Class Computer Lab. Each computer lab has expanded and refined their hours of operation and guidelines for safe and efficient use by students to meet the challenges of the semester, including social distancing, limits on simultaneous users per area, the use of hand sanitizer and explicit procedures for entering, exiting and using stations.
The NTLC has made reserving study space and computer usage easy, and has also reserved Room 115 for safe studying and research for anyone considered at high-risk. The building features in excess of 40 computer stations without a reservation necessary between its three floors, including the quiet study sections. The NTLC's adjusted hours offer in-person services on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays from 7:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m., with services available online on Wednesdays.
The MSC Computer Lab will be restricted to only 12 students at a time, who will be asked to use hand sanitizer upon entering and exiting the lab. As always, students will swipe their IDs to enter. The lab will exclude its first row of stations to be used as a walkway, and the emergency door will be used for exiting to keep students moving in one direction. Tables and computers will be sterilized between every use, and the lab will provide gloves to users; wearing masks will be required at all times.
The MSC Computer Lab's hours of operation are as follows:
Mondays through Thursdays: 9 a.m. - 10 p.m.
Fridays: 9 a.m. - 8 p.m.
Saturdays: 10 a.m. - 6 p.m.
Sundays: 10 a.m. - 6 p.m.
The New Upper Class Computer Lab will allow 5 students admission at a time. They will follow the same safety procedures and its hours of operation are as follows:
Mondays through Thursdays: 12 p.m. - 10 p.m.
Fridays: 12 p.m. - 8 p.m.
Saturdays: 10 a.m. - 6 p.m.
Sundays: 10 a.m. - 6 p.m.
At both the MSC and New Upper Class Computer Lab, high-risk students will also be given priority for the first hour of operation. Additionally, the option to e-Print documents will be encouraged to keep lab time efficient and safe. Social distancing will be reinforced at all times.
However many students are working on campus, their need to work and print at any of these locations is paramount and, thanks to these new procedures, can continue during the return to campus safely and without interruption.
