“It did take some time to institute this policy, but it did come down rather quickly if you look at the larger implications of it,” RHA president Mark Dobson said.

More than 60 percent of MSU students have never smoked cigarettes, according to the 2008 National College Health Assessment. Another 19.8 percent hadn’t smoked in the past 30 days, while 8.1 percent of surveyed students said they had smoked cigarettes six or more days in the past month.

Residence Life director Paul Goldblatt said current freshmen have never experienced a dorm that allows smoking, which is a bonus for keeping cigarettes under wraps.

But even dorms with a large number of upperclassmen aren’t having many troubles keeping smoke out of the residence halls. Shaw Hall complex director Corey Malloch said there has only been one case of a student violating the no-smoking policy this year. Malloch said he doesn’t expect many more students to get in trouble in the future. About 925 students live in Shaw Hall.

“I don’t see (the number) going up at all,” Malloch said. “Our students are being very good about being 25 feet away from the building.”

Malloch added that various staff members and even students have asked smokers to step away from the building.

However, Dobson said the 25-feet rule is complicated. RHA has observed, he said, moving an ashtray farther from the building creates a pile of cigarette butts where the ashtray formerly resided.

“It’s not like you’re going to see a fence put up at 25 feet, or a line drawn,” he said. “I really think it’s something that people just have to use their best judgment on.”

But not all students are so welcoming to the boundary rule. Marketing freshman Andrew Saunders resides in South Hubbard Hall, a dorm known for its “smoking steps” outside the front lobby. He said he isn’t willing to cooperate with the new ordinance.

“I can just walk outside and do it right on the steps, even though I’m not supposed to,” he said. “If it makes people mad, I don’t care.”