Walk around Gordon College, it’s not hard to enjoy the luscious quad, the glisten of Gull Pond, the bustling student life, and the fresh air. Cigarette butts and the smell of tobacco do not taint the campus. While some may find this environment appealing, there are students at Gordon College prefer to enjoy the beautiful campus with a cigarette in their hand and nicotine in their blood stream. Tobacco is banned on campus, yet those students find a way to get their fix. Whether they have to drive down Grapevine Road or hike deep into the Gordon woods, they do. These same students sit in Lane and chapel next to us; they walk beside us on our way to Jenks and Bennett Center. They are the smokers of Gordon College.
Clearly stated in the behavioral expectations for Gordon, which can be found on the college website (www.gordon.edu) is the probation of tobacco on campus, as well as alcoholic beverages. Why then do students light up while on campus? “It was something to do,” said Ben Knudtston, a senior accounting major from Oconomowoc, WI. “Especially in the winter, no one wants to freeze walking to their cars in Woodland.”
“Smoking is an addiction so like other addicting behaviors, smoking is rewarding—it helps calm people down, increases alertness, and provides a break in the day,” said Erin Devers, former psychology professor at Gordon, now of San Diego, CA. However, this break in the day is hard for students to fulfill on a tobacco free campus.
Does the fear of getting caught and fined by Gordon Public Safety ever keep students from smoking on campus? “No,” said Knudtson, “There were a couple of run-ins with the Go-Po mobile where we had to run away, but it became sort of a high to get away with it. Like going 90 miles per hour on the highway and not getting pulled over.”
Brooke Talbot, a ’09 art major from Beverly, MA felt a similar way to Knudtson when she attended Gordon. Due to lack of available parking on campus, Talbot would smoke behind Barrington. She found that smoking a cigarette helped with the stresses of Gordon, like work and professors. “Smoking would help take off that edge,” Talbot said.
Smokers at Gordon say they find the tobacco free campus to be a speed bump in their day, not a roadblock. But, Gordon bans tobacco on campus for a reason. “I think Gordon bans smoking on campus because it promotes both the health of the non-smoker and the health of the smoker,” said Devers. “If smoking becomes more difficult (you have to walk further to smoke, or it costs even more money), it becomes easier to quit.”
About 8 students a semester are caught and fined for smoking on campus according to Terry Charek, Associate Dean of Students, Residential Life and Judicial Program. Yet, Charek believes that many students get away with smoking on campus. “As with everything at Gordon, we deal with what we know, and we’re okay with that. We have no compelling need to search through the bushes or chase people down the Coy paths to stamp out smoking,” said Charek.
Second Lieutenant of the Marine Corps Will Nadeau smoked cigars in the Gordon woods while he attended Gordon. A resident of Beverly, MA, Nadeau now has different thoughts about tobacco use on campus. “Let kids smoke on campus and they wouldn’t clean up after themselves. Gordon is beautiful,” he said. “And it wouldn’t be with a bunch of butts lying around.”
“We all have our ‘issues’ to deal with, and from my perspective the act of smoking itself or ‘being a smoker’ is not a big deal. The issue lies with the question of integrity, and agreeing to do or not do something while voluntarily being part of this community. There’s the real issue,” said Charek. Some students feel that the community would not be harmed if they enjoyed a cigarette while still on campus. “I want to be able to walk behind Jenks and rip a butt between classes,” said Knudtson. “It would be relaxing.”
