Dormitory Smoking Policy In Discussion
by Chris Anton

The Housing and Dining Comittee is now considering changes to smoke free housing and less options in off-campus housing. At last week’s housing and dining meeting, committee members brought a wide range of living issues to the forefront of discussion. Assistant Dirctor of Residential Life and Services, Sandra Houghland raised the off campus junior limitation policy by announcing the statistics for on campus life this year: 1882 students live on campus while 947 live off campus.
This year, 95 beds on campus are empty — 47 in traditional residence halls, 44 in program houses, and 4 in OSCA. Citing the admission of a smaller first year class, as well as increasing pressure from town residents, Houghland feels it is necessary and prudent to once again initiate a lottery system to ensure that all on campus spaces are filled and that students do not overcrowd the city of Oberlin.
“If you read the rules and regs, there is a junior limitation policy in it that just has not been utilized in years past, because we’ve never had to. Now it seems that we’re going to have to implement the lottery again,” Houghland said. In recent years, virtually all juniors and seniors were granted off campus status. If the lottery system is implemented, juniors will have to vie for coveted off campus slots and may find themselves subjected to another year in the dorms, or worse, having already signed a lease that they will no longer be allowed to keep.
According to Rules and Regulations, in such instances a student is liable for their room and board charges until they are officially released to live off campus. Since landlords are rarely willing to arbitrarily cancel a lease, a student who signs a premature lease and is not released from on campus housing will find both a rent bill from their landlord and a housing charge on their term bill. “Students are already out there signing leases for next year. They have to ask themselves if they can afford to pay for two places to live,” Business Manager for the College, Todd Rasmussen said. Often times, failure to adhere to the terms of a lease results in the student being held legally accountable for the full cost of the lease, whether or not they live in the residence.
The advice Residential Life staff has for next year’s juniors is simple and direct. “Just don’t sign anything until you know your housing status in March,” Houghland said. She fears that students might assume that the lottery system will not be enforced because it hasn’t in the recent past, which is untrue. She also hopes that this early warning will protect students from unnecessary and tedious legal wranglings. The lottery will not affect upcoming senior requests for off campus status, requests which are always granted.
The mass exodus from campus living is not unique to Oberlin.
Across the country, colleges and universities have started throwing millions of dollars into the creation of on -campus spaces that more closely resemble apartments, with functioning kitchens and bathrooms. The trustees discussed the idea of creating more attractive apartment-like living spaces at their meeting this weekend, but according to Dean of Students Peter Goldsmith, there was “a lot of discussion, but little direct planning.” Goldsmith also ranked the importance of renovating dorm spaces fourth behind finishing the new science center, creating more studio art space and building a black box theater. In addition to potentially being forced to remain on campus, students who smoke may soon find it even more difficult to light up in public spaces. The smoking policy as outlined in the student handbook reads, “Oberlin College’s policy is to limit smoking...to outdoor areas on-campus that are away from building entrances and exits. Smoking is banned at all times in all campus buildings...except for designated smoking lounges in the residence hall setting.”
Director of Residential Life and Services Kim LaFond sees this policy as both widely abused and impractical. “I’d really like to see what students have to say about the idea of getting rid of smoking lounges within dorms,” LaFond said. “Every year, I get more and more complaints from students and parents alike.”
“Students living on the floor above the lounge, in the room next to the lounge, or even on the same hall as the lounge frequently complain,” LaFond said. “They were promised a smoke free residence.”