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However, the students who were loyal to the “smoke shack” have decided to not move their between-class hangout to the “new” shelter,
having been insulted by the unannounced transplant as well as the message they felt was sent by the administration. Demonstrating their outrage, students are bringing lawn chairs and desks. They also tried to put up a tarp to protect them from the impending fall weather.
One of the many complaints from that shelter’s inhabitants is that they feel segregated from the rest of the campus population. “It’s like they’re trying to push us off campus,” one student says. With tobacco still remaining a legal substance, students are feeling as though the administration is embarrassed to have them. Pat Higby, a tutor in the Math Learning Center says. “A lot of these kids are fulltime students; they pay tuition just like everyone else. We shouldn’t have to hide from people in the other shelter just because we smoke.” These feelings have been punctuated since a row of trees were planted between the new shelter and the street, hiding occupants from view.
Another heavy gripe from the ousted group of smokers is the proximity
of the new shelter to the day care drop off. “Little kids are going to be even closer to the cigarette smoke now,” one CEO student remarked.
However, the old location of the shelter was on the same path as the children’s daily walking route.
The Facilities Department was more than willing to offer up some answers to the students’ questions. Randy Stegmeier, the Executive Director of Campus Facilities, has been receiving complaints about the noise from faculty members for quite a while now. “In the summertime,”
Stegmeier says, “the instructors want to open their doors but they can’t because of all the activity and noise (at the old shelter location).” By moving the shelter, the noise pollution generated at that shelter is dampened and the two benches inside the shelter offer ample opportunities to socialize. “We don’t want to make this a fight. We have provided a place for them to go. We’re trying to be as accommodating
as possible.”
Currently, the administration is trying to update the Washington Administrator’s Code (WAC), as the current WAC does not allow citations
to be given for smoking outside the shelters. The revised WAC was submitted to Olympia last year and has not yet been passed for pending approval. “We definitely plan on following up on the new WAC and seeing it through” says Stegmeier. “We don’t want to issue citations,
but we do want a code that reflects our policies on campus.”
Stuart Trippel, acting as Vice President of Administrative Services, was also eager to hear student feedback. “We should always find ways people can coexist,” he says. Trippel pointed out that the administration
doesn’t necessarily need to supply areas for students to smoke. “I believe that if we conducted a vote right now, this campus would be voted a non-smoking campus.”
Stegmeier and Trippel’s security and facilities team has been receiving
a lot of disrespect from the protesting smokers. When the students
are asked to smoke within the proximity of a designated shelter, they refuse and stay put as a sign of the seemingly offensive nature of the move. Trippel points out that they merely relocated the shelter, instead of eliminating it, as complaining faculty would have preferred. “However, if this persists,” he says, “we may be forced to close that shelter.”
The cost of building the shelters, as well as the relocation of the structures, definitely adds up and comes directly out of the Facilities Department’s budget. But for now, the relocated shelter is the designated
smoking area replacing the one previously located between the 1700 and 1800 buildings.
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