Students vote to extinguish smoking in residence halls

By CJ CALO
Collegian Staff Writer

In a decisive vote Wednesday, about 66 percent of the students who voted on a smoking-ban referendum supported a policy that would prohibit smoking in individual dorm rooms.

The referendum was added to the Undergraduate Student Graduate elections ballot by North Halls Senator Bill Rothwell, with support from East Halls Senator Steve Wakefield.

The new policy would prohibit smoking in dorm rooms, but also would allow each individual residence area government to determine its own policy on the number and location of smoking lounges.

Despite the fact that some areas would be made available to smokers, Rothwell said the Office of Residence Life is still discriminating against those students.

"If I live on the 10th floor, I wouldn't want to have to walk down to the basement just to have a cigarette -- I'm paying to live in that room," Rothwell said.

Association of Residence Hall Students Executive Vice President Sharon Entenberg said the Office of Residence Life, with the assistance of ARHS, conducted a survey in Spring Semester 1994 to gauge student opinion on the smoking ban. She said about 85 percent of the students surveyed were in favor of the policy.

But Rothwell said he still thinks residence life is going too far.

"It's important for all of us to feel comfortable," Entenberg said. "I don't think a two-minute walk is too much to ask."

Rothwell and Wakefield said they added the referendum to the ballot to get a better view of students' interest in the smoking ban.

"We will use the results of the referendum to determine whether we want to support or oppose the University policy," Wakefield said.

Both senators planned to petition residence life to change the policy, slated to go into effect in Fall Semester 1996, using the referendum data to back up their position.

"There's no way we can dictate policy -- all we can do is lobby," Rothwell said.

After hearing the referendum results announced Wednesday night in the HUB Ballroom, in which 2,589 students supported the new smoking policy and 1,288 students voted against it, Wakefield was surprised and annoyed.

"People don't realize that they're signing their rights away," he said. "I strongly encourage anyone busted under the policy to sue the University."