Next year, upperclass students who would rather not deal with the smell of cigarette smoke will be able to live comfortably in either of two West Campus dorms; those who would rather not deal with any cigarettes, alcohol or drugs will have to wait at least one more year.
The Office of Housing and Student Development has decided to increase the number of smoke-free residence halls from one to two, adding the 55 beds in Nottingham to the 86 already smoke-free in Camelot, said Bill Burig, assistant dean of student development. He said students expressed considerable interest in smoke-free housing in last year's housing survey.
However, the office has decided that not enough students wanted to live in substance-free housing to warrant the creation of a substance-free living area on West Campus. There will continue to be substance-free housing available for first-year students on East.
In most dorms, students can only smoke in their rooms, and then only if their roommates consent. The smoke-free dorms would go further by prohibiting smoking throughout the building.
Most students are pleased with the decision to increase the amount of smoke-free living space.
"I'm practically allergic to smoke," Pratt sophomore and Camelot resident Laney Simmons said. "In my opinion, any dorm with central air conditioning should be smoke free."
Even some smokers said smoke-free dorms are a good idea.
"Well, I have to come outside to smoke," said a current Camelot resident and smoker who wished to remain anonymous. "But that's cool. I wouldn't want to smoke in my room anyway.... I think people should be able to choose to live in a smoke-free environment if they wish."
But Hilary Thum, a Trinity sophomore who also lives in Camelot, said even though she does not smoke, living in a smoke-free environment can be a disadvantage. "I would rather it not be [smoke-free]," she said. "Sometimes when my friends come over and want to smoke, they can't."
The idea of substance-free housing drew a wide range of student opinions.
Trinity sophomore John Zeok expressed the most popular sentiment: "I wouldn't personally [be interested] in substance-free living. But, it's probably a good idea to cater to those who think it's a good idea."
Some students, however, doubted that there would be sufficient interest. "For a lot of Duke students..., the way they have fun on weekends is to drink," said Trinity sophomore Kim Holmes. "I don't know if [creating substance-free housing] would work."
Burig said that even freshmen living in Epworth, which is currently substance free, have expressed an interest in living all around campus, not just in a single substance-free dorm.
Not everyone agreed with that assessment. "I think there's really a big demand for substance-free housing," said Jonathan Nikfarjam, a current Epworth resident who said he would live in such a dorm if it existed. The Pratt freshman pointed to the exceptionally high number of students who requested to live in Epworth.
Although Burig said the housing office had also intended to survey the 390 first-year students who requested substance-free housing last year but could not be fit in Epworth, the individuals responsible for that survey did not perform it.
He left open the possibility of a substance-free dorm in the future if students expressed interest. "It's not going to be a subject that we're going to let die," he said.
Burig added that there would be a possibility of increasing the amount of smoke-free housing on campus in future years. "We're going to inch things up as students tell us," he said.
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