The Llama Ledger - Bard College at Simon's Rock's Student Newspaper

Issue date: 9/5/07 Section: News

Media Credit: Alex Nathanson First-year Hannah Dunne smokes in the newly-designated smoking area.

Before this year, almost all students at Simon's Rock were familiar with the veranda. Centered between the tri-dorms, it was the place where everyone would gather, socialize and play music until late at night. It was also the place where people would smoke.

Not anymore. Effective this year as of the Writing and Thinking Workshop, smokers are no longer allowed to smoke on the veranda. Smoking is confined to an area between the dining hall and Crosby, outfitted with benches and tables.

Two large wind sails have also been ordered to protect the space from snow and rain.

But violating the new policy leads to fines: $50 for the first violation, and $100 for any that occur subsequently.

Many students are opposed to the new policy. "I feel cheated out of one of my favorite study spots, the willow tree and Kendrick lawn area," says sophomore Meghan McIntosh.

Many people are confused about why officials implemented the new policy and rumors have been circulating regarding the reasoning behind it.

Some claim that Ken Geremia's hiring as a residence director and his subsequent move into Dolliver House led to the new policy, as he doesn't want his child around cigarette smoke. Others suspect that the veranda ban is only the beginning of a plan to completely eliminate smoking on the Simon's Rock campus.

Geremia denies that his hiring had any involvement in the decision. "I was literally hired the day before the first year students arrived on campus. The policy was established over the summer. I had no input," he said.

However, he also notes that "the policy was key in my decision to return to campus and move into Dolliver with my family," stating "the environment that had previously existed in the tri-dorm area was unhealthy."

Health is the primary reason Associate Dean of Student Affairs Bob Graves cites for the decision.

"For the past year, I have received countless complaints from students, faculty, staff and parents about smoking on campus," he said.

He brings up legal issues: "The college is not in complete compliance with the law, and that is a problem," noting that Massachusetts bans tobacco use for everyone under the age of 18, unless a parent buys the tobacco products. He claims that his decision was the best way he could think of to come to a compromise between smokers and nonsmokers.

Director of Residence Life Tom Coote repeats many of Grave's points. He reiterates that the complaints were "perennial and perpetual," and even brought up a case last year where a parent "sent a two-page letter to Bard and Simon's Rock threatening legal action" against minors being allowed to smoke.

Coote claims this pressure influenced the decision to move the smokers away from the veranda and underneath the trees.

But why that specific location? Coote says it was a matter of stopping smoking before it began: many students start smoking when they arrive at Simon's Rock, he says, so moving the smoking area away from the tridorms was an effort to contain the problem—the area had to be "convenient, but not too convenient." The location was simply the "most smoked in" area on lower campus, and that the trees "contain the noise and the smoke."

As to whether or not the campus will ban smoking altogether, Graves comments that "how the smoking and non-smoking members of the community respond to these changes may influence the outcome."

Coote was more concrete: "The school is a couple years away from banning smoking." He notes that the administration has been discussing the school's toleration of smoking for a long time, and that they have been under pressure from both parents and students to ban smoking from campus.

The ban would probably be implemented as "a series of steps", moving from lower campus first, he says, then possibly to upper campus.

Would legally-aged students and faculty be allowed to smoke? Coote admits that he "can't answer that right now." He also noted, "it's a national trend for colleges to ban smoking," emphasizing that such a decision at Simon's Rock would not be unusual.

Will smoking still be legal at Simon's Rock in five years' time? That's a question that the administration—and the students—have yet to answer. As for now, the veranda may be open no more, but the smokers' circle remains.

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Contact the author: fgreenwood@llamaledger.com

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