Students returning to GMC this fall have all come into contact with a new part of the campus landscape which has become one of the most common topics to talk about. With the administration’s new policy on smoking, specially prescribed smoking tents, or “butt huts,” are popping up on campus lawns. “I’m not for or against it, but as the policy will go through no matter what, I’m for it,” says President of Student Senate Jose Galvez-Contreras. “The administration is willing to listen and the Student Senate is pushing for more tent locations to reduce the concentration of students smoking.”
There are already rising com- plaints from residents in the North and Moses dorms of not being able to sleep peacefully with the heavy clouds of smoke and chatter coming out of the butt huts until the early morning hours. Concern over the smoking going on in only a handful of areas on campus is shared by GMC senior Chris Ricker. “The tent in front of North has a plume of smoke that moves up like a chimney,” Ricker said. “I think freedom is important; if you don’t smoke, it’s important to have your health protected, but we need situational awareness. In this case, how healthy and aware is it if people in North and Moses can’t open their windows?”
Ricker left for an internship involving conservation in Burlington just three days after some sordid events transpired on the eve of his going away party. “I was coming back from the party around 4 in the morning and saw the tent and it seemed like an image of tyranny to me. Instead of seeming like something that protects the right of smokers, it promotes segregation,” he noted. Unable to smoke except in designated areas barred non-smokers from hanging out with smokers. He further stated that the unhappy consequence of this was his friends wouldn’t hang out with him as he was in the tent all the time.
His convictions too strong for him to hold on any longer, he destroyed the tent. Very shortly after the event transpired, a security officer was dispatched to his room, it being no secret who had done it, and demanded to know how anyone so drunk could have been so productive in such a short amount of time. Before morning classes had begun, Ricker went to the hardware store and purchased a tent, replacing the one he had destroyed. “I believe you have to take responsibility for your actions. I don’t believe in the tent, but I believe in GMC,” he stated.
These negative setbacks to the smoking policy, which became effective August 17, were unintentional. In a campus-wide e-mail sent out by President Paul Fonteyn he noted that “our [the school’s] primary desire is to protect all who live, work, study or visit the campus from a major health concern: secondhand smoke.”
Vice President of Student Life Joe Petrick reflected on the history of the smoking policy on campus. For awhile the campus established a rule saying you could not smoke within 50 feet of the dorms, but with little success. “The 50-foot rule was not followed and last year being my first full year, I walked into a lot of complaints about smoking and flicked butts,” Petrick said. “This is where all the policy came from. Nation-wide you have a push. Eco-League schools are going in the same direction.”
Even President Fonteyn’s letter mentioned leading institutions such as Warren Wilson, San Francisco State University, and Carleton College adopting smoking policies. “We think we are doing something unique but it’s the zeitgeist,” Petrick continued. “What we’re seeing is a national trend. The downside is numbers and noise… We all have to enforce this in a friendly way. When you’re in a community you all help reinforce your values.”
