Smoking community fractured by construction

Discarded bottles and cigarette packs litter the nature trail, near the Family Education building. (Jared Angle/The Washtenaw Voice)

Years after WCC became a smoke-free campus and tore down the woods smokers hid in, they still aren’t giving up the habit

Adrian Hedden

Managing Editor

Positioned elusively throughout the exteriors of buildings and hidden away behind trees, smokers lurk incognito at Washtenaw Community College.

Dan Corcoran, 32, of Ann Arbor is among them. Even after a popular destination for smokers in the woods near the Writing Center was exposed by construction on the parking structure, many who indulge in cigarettes at school have found their own places to light up.

“People go all over the place to smoke,” Corcoran said. “They’ll be out front, under the trees. I’ve seen them quite a bit.”

After the school implemented a ban on cigarettes, many students still do not hesitate to enjoy them on campus. A 14-year smoker majoring in physics, Corcoran has been undeterred by a security presence that he sees as visible, yet lenient

“They usually just drive by, I know they can see me smoking,” Corcoran said. “Maybe they just don’t really care.”

Jacques Desrosiers, director of Campus Safety and Security cares. Enforcing the smoking ban by patrolling campus on foot in search of violators, Desrosiers expects that the smoke won’t ever fully clear from his school.

“With a student body this size, you’ll never get 100 percent compliance,” Desrosiers said. “People would disappear into those woods, but they’d scatter as soon as we approached and leave only evidence.”

Desrosiers has seen smokers congregating in three main areas on his school’s campus. In the woods near the Writing Center, behind the trees of the community park behind the BE building and over the hills that create borders between WCC’s parking lots and public roads.

“If they do smoke, hopefully it’s off campus,” Desrosiers said. “A lot of them tend to go back to their cars. We let them be at that point.”

Smoking in vehicles parked on the campus’ parking lot is unaddressed by the statutes of the school’s smoking policy. Despite this grey area, some students lash out at the ban and proceed to infringe on its parameters. Dancy Smith, 21, of Bellville is one of those.

“I love to smoke on campus,” Smith said. “I do it on purpose because the ban pisses me off.”

Smith doesn’t travel far to enjoy her tobacco. The liberal-arts major encourages that a smoke at WCC is just a short walk away.

“People usually go to the side of the Student Center; there are butts all over there,” Smith said. “I also smoke when walking to my car. Keep mobile.”

For non-smokers, the ban represents an opportunity to avoid the clouds of tobacco smoke that has often plagued them in public.

“People have a right to not be exposed to the smoke,” said Ken Mitchell, 59, of Ypsilanti. “But smokers will still smoke.”

Studying social work at WCC, Mitchell is wary that the ban has forced smokers to find their own space on campus. Mitchell would rather the school tell people where to smoke.

“A designated area would be more appropriate,” Mitchell said. “But one that is far off to the side.”

Jordan

Hey Adrian,

I am a sophomore at Calvin College, located in Grand Rapids Michigan. Calvin has also has minor debates of un-allowing students to smoke on campus. Although the ethical choice may be to have the rule enforced, there are many different perspectives that apply.

Smoking may have different perspectives per individual; it all depends on who you ask. If you were to walk over to a Calvin smokers pit, and ask them their views on smoking you would probably receive an answer such as “smoking is one of the best ways to relieve stress” if you were to ask someone who has never smoked in their life you would receive an answer such as, “smoking is gross I don’t not understand why anyone would ever enjoy putting smoke into their lungs”.

Personally I’m a part time, social smoker; my craving to smoke on occasion is from Adderall, my ADHD medication that I am prescribed to take on a daily basis. I have addressed my ADHD doctor (Dr. Oran Mason) about the craving and he said it can be a normal side effect. Dr. Mason takes a positive viewpoint towards the issue. Having a set time each day to take an academic break to sit, socialize and clear your mind from concentration of homework, as well as establishing relationships through the process. He believe that because of the sometimes “zombified” effects Adderall may have on certain individuals, it allows them to step out of that zone into a feeling of “reality” of the day. (of course side effects vary between individuals, medication, medication dosage, and how long you have been on the medication)
When focusing on the decision to ban smoking, I feel like the example that I have stated above is widely overlooked by committees who would make the choice. However I believe that non-smokers have the right to be in a smoke free environment, but you also can’t just take privilege away cold turkey from those who do enjoy/ crave what smoking offers.
At Calvin College they allow the smokers to have the freedom to smoke when they choose but not where they choose, Calvin has designated areas to smoke, known as the smoker’s pits. The smoker’s pits are located in secluded locations around campus where smokers may go to smoke, and non-smokers may avoid.
With the current ban at Washtenaw Community College, students seem to rebel against the rule, and do it anyway. In the article you mentioned that the 3 main locations where smoking takes place are: “in the woods by the writing center, behind the trees in the community park behind the BE building, and over the hills that create borders between WCC’s parking lots and public roads.”
It seems that the ban should be negotiated/ modified to ban smoking in areas where high foot trafficking occurs, but allow still allowing the students freedom to smoke in designated smoking areas, just like at Calvin.