At its meeting last night, Council passed two pieces of legislation concerning course evaluations and rejected one bill regarding the sale of cigarettes on Grounds.
A bill to encourage Dining Services to discontinue the sale of tobacco products at on-Grounds locations failed. The bill did not pass by a vote of 7-13.
Council President Noah Sullivan said the University enables students to make their own decisions by selling cigarettes through Dining Services.
"The University teaches students responsibility and to make decisions on their own," Sullivan said. "It is their legal right to smoke."
Council members in favor of the resolution that sought to encourage the termination of tobacco sales on Grounds said the University was setting a double standard by providing students with the ability to purchase cigarettes on Grounds.
"This isn't regulating behavior," Engineering School Rep. Pavan Gupta said. "We have a great medical school and all these organizations, but at the same time, right underneath a first-year dorm we are selling cigarettes. We are not making a great case."
Several locations around Grounds sell cigarettes, including The Castle at the McCormick Road dormitories, the Root Cellar near the Alderman Road dormitories and the C3 store at the Lambeth Field Apartments.
Council members opposed to the bill argued that implementing the legislation would threaten the safety of student smokers on Grounds.
"We are not looking to put someone in a situation to walk 15 minutes alone in the dark to buy a pack of cigarettes," College Rep. Katherine Gambill said. "Regulating this is pressing our morals on people who have the right to choose whether or not to smoke."
"We're not telling students not to smoke," College Rep. Slosson said. "If we don't sell cigarettes on University property, students still have plenty of opportunities to buy tobacco products."
Sullivan said selling cigarettes at on-Grounds locations would prevent students from having to venture off Grounds.
"The University [in the form of student groups] provides alcohol [at events], which can be a destructive habit for those who choose to abuse it," Sullivan added. "It is not our job to say that students shouldn't smoke."
In addition, Council unanimously passed two bills concerning course evaluations without debate.
Without debate, Council unanimously passed a resolution to address online course evaluations on teaching assistant instruction. The resolution stated the current course evaluations do not accurately assess the contributions of teaching assistants and that Council urges the University administration to examine this issue.
Council also passed a resolution to commend students for the success of the online course evaluation system since many students completed course evaluations.
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