New Smoking Policy Stagnates in Community Council

Author: Campus Editor in Chief

A proposal from the Student Government Association's Taskforce on Smoking Policy stalled in Community Council discussions Monday when the body split over how to govern smoking in residence halls.
The stalemate came after the Taskforce surveyed 631 students about their preferences. The data -- collected during Winter Term at Ross, Proctor and Freeman Dining Halls -- revealed that 32 percent of surveyed students supported a ban while 39 percent registered opposition. Just 16 percent desired smoke-free residence halls and the remaining 13 percent recommended that each hallway decide by majority vote of its residents.
Based on its findings the Taskforce proposed that each hallway vote at the beginning of the academic year on whether students may smoke in their rooms, provided they have the consent of their roommates and the residents of neighboring rooms. Smoking would remain banned in lounges, bathrooms, stairwells and other public areas, as mandated by Vermont state law.
Senior Senator and Community Council Member Fahim Ahmed '03, who chaired the Taskforce, said, "The proposal retains the flexibility of the current policy and formalizes the way policy is effectively decided in most halls already."
Student Co-chair of Community Council LaBolt also threw his support behind the proposal, labeling it a "respect-your-neighbor bill that reflects the spirit of Middlebury."
Community Council deliberations reached an impasse Monday despite the SGA Senate's unanimous endorsement of the Taskforce's proposal in late January. The Council, however, must achieve consensus on the issue and then submit revised policy language to President John McCardell.
Discussion faltered in part because some Council members worried that the Taskforce's survey did not accurately reflect the will of the student body.
"I'm concerned about the survey and whether it reflects what people are actually feeling," said Executive Director of Career Services Jaye Roseborough, a longtime member of the Council. She called for a"tighter survey" to be followed by a student-wide referendum on the issue.
Yet Roseborough grappled with the conflict between valuing student self-governance and "recognizing a massively huge public health issue that we're not in the dark about anymore."
The Taskforce, for example, found that only 30 percent of students think second-hand smoke is a major problem in residence halls, and therefore concluded that second-hand smoke is "not considered a major problem." They also found "limited evidence of cigarette smoke as having led to fire in residential halls."
The documented risks of second-hand smoke and open flames still prompted calls for administrative action, even if that overrides the Taskforce's premium on student opinion.
Dean of the Language Schools and Schools Abroad Michael Katz said the dilemma calls for "leadership and not democracy." Katz said he would announce a full-scale ban on residential smoking effective from June of this year, but only if Middlebury College embraces the policy during the academic year.
"We need a carefully engineered consensus," he said. "It's time for the College to recognize that the preponderance of evidence against tobacco use is such that we should take a stance." That evidence ranges from health concerns to fire hazards -- Katz said the Language Schools dealt with "a number of fires last year, many of which were butts burning in garbage cans."
Residential Systems Coordinator Mariah McKechnie '01 seconded the need for an administrative solution. She told The Middlebury Campus, "As much as it's been wonderful to hear what students have to say, it's become clear that there are some issues where we must make an administrative decision." She pledged to continue to push for a smoking ban during the spring semester.
She is backed by over 800 students who signed a petition that suggested banning smoking in residence halls and within a 25-foot perimeter around buildings. Those signatures, gathered by Students for a Smoke Free Middlebury in the fall semester, were "brushed off and ignored by the SGA," she said.
The Community Council will continue discussion of smoking policy at its meeting next Monday.