diff --git a/authentication/backends.py b/authentication/backends.py
index 38f08d6..adc1f48 100644
--- a/authentication/backends.py
+++ b/authentication/backends.py
@@ -16,7 +16,6 @@ from mozilla_django_oidc.contrib.drf import OIDCAuthentication
 class CustomOIDCBackend(OIDCAuthenticationBackend):
     def get_username(self, claims):
         if 'preferred_username' in claims and not User.objects.filter(username=claims['preferred_username']).exists():
-            print(claims['preferred_username'])
             return claims['preferred_username']
         return super().get_username(claims)
 
@@ -32,7 +31,6 @@ class CustomOIDCBackend(OIDCAuthenticationBackend):
     def get_userinfo(self, access_token, id_token, payload):
         userinfo = cache.get(f'userinfo-{access_token}')
         if userinfo is None:
-            print("no cache found for userinfo-{access_token} yet.")
             userinfo = super().get_userinfo(access_token, id_token, payload)
             if userinfo:
                 cache.set(f'userinfo-{access_token}', userinfo, timeout=settings.OIDC_CACHE_USERINFO)
diff --git a/marbas/settings.py b/marbas/settings.py
index 9874400..7db6710 100644
--- a/marbas/settings.py
+++ b/marbas/settings.py
@@ -71,6 +71,7 @@ INSTALLED_APPS = [
 
 MIDDLEWARE = [
     'django.middleware.security.SecurityMiddleware',
+    'whitenoise.middleware.WhiteNoiseMiddleware',
     'django.contrib.sessions.middleware.SessionMiddleware',
     'corsheaders.middleware.CorsMiddleware',
     'django.middleware.common.CommonMiddleware',
@@ -166,8 +167,9 @@ USE_TZ = True
 # Static files (CSS, JavaScript, Images)
 # https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/4.2/howto/static-files/
 
-STATIC_ROOT = 'static/'
+STATIC_ROOT = BASE_DIR / 'static'
 STATIC_URL = 'static/'
+STATICFILES_STORAGE = "whitenoise.storage.CompressedStaticFilesStorage"
 
 # Default primary key field type
 # https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/4.2/ref/settings/#default-auto-field
diff --git a/requirements.txt b/requirements.txt
index 02ea6a0..4c05897 100644
--- a/requirements.txt
+++ b/requirements.txt
@@ -11,4 +11,5 @@ inflection
 django-esi
 django-health-check
 mozilla-django-oidc
-django-cors-headers
\ No newline at end of file
+django-cors-headers
+whitenoise
\ No newline at end of file