RESIDENT LIFE GU May Alter Residence Hall Smoking Policy By Amanda McGrath Hoya Staff Writer
The future of university policies concerning smoking in residence halls will be determined in part by the reactions and input of students gathered by an InterHall petition located this week in Red Square.
“At this stage we just want to get some information and see if this is something we want to pursue,” InterHall Vice President of External Affairs James Wawrzyniak (COL ’04) said. “It’s just in a preliminary stage right now.”
The petition, according to Wawrzyniak, was prompted by a request from the administration to gather data on student opinion concerning the presence of smoking in residence halls.
“The student living situation is a very important part of the experience at Georgetown,” Associate Dean of Students and Director of Residence Life Bethany Marlowe said. “With smokers and nonsmokers we are constantly balancing that comfort.”
The petition asks students which of three options they prefer: to make all residences smoke-free, to designate certain floors in each residence hall as smoking floors or to leave university policy unchanged.
According to current university policy, smoking is permitted only in designated smoking areas. These include outdoor areas that do not obstruct entryways as well as residential rooms and apartments with the consent of all occupants. While there are no floors designated for smokers, there are a few floors in each building that are explicitly non-smoking.
“It is the policy of Georgetown University to achieve an environment as close to smoke-free as practically possible. The university is concerned about the health and safety of all faculty, staff, students and visitors,” according to the university smoking policy in the Student Code of Conduct. “In accordance with the requirements of the statutory law of the District of Columbia, this policy is intended to protect nonsmokers, while recognizing the needs of smokers.”
Many students said they felt the current policies were appropriate. “I don’t know what else could be improved,” Kimberly Steele (COL ’02), a smoker, said. She said that before she started smoking, she didn’t like living with people who did smoke. “I think there definitely need to be nonsmoking floors, but there doesn’t need to be smoking in hallways and things like that,” Steele said.
Under District law, smoking in designated nonsmoking areas may result in a $300 fine. According to Marlowe, the university’s policies are in accordance with D.C. law.
Complaints by both smokers and nonsmokers prompted the examination of a possible change to university policy. “There have been complaints by smokers for quite some time,” Marlowe said. She also said that nonsmokers have frequently complained about the smell and the air quality problems associated with cigarette smoke. Health concerns also caught the focus of administrators. According to Marlowe, “When you are in an environment in which people smoke, it makes it very difficult to quit.”
Wawrzyniak said it would probably be about a year before a change would officially be made to university policy.
Marlowe said the administration is not promoting one side of the issue or the other. “There isn’t a `push’ to do anything,” she said. Wawrzyniak also said that InterHall has no official stance and only aims to collect student input.
Created in 1998, InterHall’s primary function is to improve on-campus residential life and increase communications between administrators and students about campus living conditions. The organization also devotes time to promoting student involvement within their residential communities.