Em Magazine, Emerson’s lifestyle publication, successfully appealed for $12,865 in printing costs at the student government meeting Tuesday, the largest sum the publication has received this year.

Although the appeal passed unanimously, seven of the 16 voting members abstained. Many members of the student government said they were worried about the cost of using the publications longtime printer, Journeyman. 

After the vote, Chief Justice Adriana Guida explained to quizzical voting members that to abstain from voting means to not cast a vote at all. With the majority of the members casting votes affirming the motion, the appeal was passed. 

Em Magazine Editor-in-Chief Justin Reis said the publication has a strong relationship with the Newburyport, Mass. printer and has had success in working with them.

“Journeyman is not the cheapest printer, but it does provide free author changes,” said Reis. “I think it’s really important to go with Journeyman just for that reason.” 

During the appeal, Reis said the desired printer will fix any mistakes and image changes it notices free of charge, whereas others would expect the publication to pay a fee for each correction, sometimes amounting to thousands of dollars.  

Ben Halls, the class of 2015 president, asked Reis if the magazine usually needs to change more than $3,000 worth of images, which would be the amount saved by using a cheaper printer. According to Reis, last semester the changes would have cost $10,000 had they not used Journeyman, making it impossible to print the magazine.

The errors that occur during printing are not caused by the Em Magazine staff, but by printer complications, according to Reis. It would cost roughly $100 per error with another printer, Reis said. 

Em Magazine has spent the entire $10,124 it was given for the 2011 – 2012 academic year. In November, the publication received $4,940 in an appeal for printing costs. The total cost to print 1,500 copies of its December issue was $14,182. This semester, it will print 1,000 copies. It has fundraised $2,500 independently.