October Lawrence Committee Meeting Minutes

1. October social events:
   Pumpkin carving, which has been popular in the past. Alison will organize the event, and other committee members will assist. Also, there will be trick-or-treating at Lawrence in apartments that display orange pumpkin signs on their doors.
2. A ping pong table for one of the community rooms has been requested. A few issues with this request were discussed. A table is expensive but breakable. The community rooms are small and a ping pong table occupies a large portion of the room, unless it is foldable. Noise from ping pong may disturb residents living near the community rooms. Everyone at the meeting does not think it is a good idea to purchase a table at this time.
3. Update from Olivia Martel: Lane lines in the parking lots are being repainted in sections. An unclothed person who was spotted in a in Lawrence lobby has been banned from campus. A garden lock should be added this week.
4. Laundry lines at Lawrence were requested. One issue is that there will not be enough space for all residents to use the lines if they were installed. It may be possible for residents to purchase and string their own portable lines. Vote on laundry lines at Lawrence: 1 for, 3 against.
5. A listing of committee members on the Lawrence committee website was requested.
6. AJ attended an event where he learned about SAFE (the Student Activities Funding Engine), a new funding system. You must log in as the organization (rather than with your personal account) so that you see the appropriate funding sources.
7. Smoking policy change:
   1. Background: Smoking is already banned indoors everywhere else on Princeton’s campus and Lawrence building 1 is already non-smoking. The policy change would take place in July when new housing contracts are issued.
   2. Arguments raised for banning smoking: Low-rise Lawrence apartments are least expensive apartments for families. Joshua Wallace brought this up as a concern to the Graduate Housing Advisory Board (GHAB) and asked the Lawrence committee for its input. Going smoking-free would be more friendly to families, given the health risks to children of second hand smoke exposure. The layout of the low-rise apartments is such that smoke makes its way into other units. New Lawrence apartments may not have as severe a problem, however, Sema did sometimes smell smoke in New Lawrence when she lived there, suggesting that smoke travels in those buildings as well. Joshua knows a student who has asthma and couldn’t live in Lawrence because she can’t tolerate any smoke exposure. It is odd that smoking is permitted given that lighting candles is not permitted in any buildings at Lawrence.
   3. Other thoughts: There are smokers at Lawrence. What percentage of residents of Lawrence are smokers? And how many residents of Lawrence smoke in their apartments? No Lawrence residents who smoke and are against the policy change have contacted the committee, at least yet.
   4. The committee decides to perform a poll. The email will have a title something like, “Smoking ban in Lawrence”. The poll will close on Friday.
      1. Question 1: Are you in favor of a smoking ban?
         1. I’m in favor of a smoking ban
         2. I’m against a smoking ban
         3. I don’t care
      2. Question 2: Do you or someone in your household smoke inside?
         1. I smoke
         2. I don’t smoke
         3. I have someone in my household who smokes
      3. Question 3: free response
   5. Committee members vote whether they are in favor of or against banning smoking. 6 in favor of the ban, 0 against, 0 abstain

In attendance:
Julia Wittes – proxy for Lauren Anllo
Alison Cheney
Joshua Wallace
Olivia Martel
Burcin Cakir
AJ Riggs
Xiaoyu Tong
Sema Berkiten
James Park