{"id":28311,"date":"2024-04-05T17:21:23","date_gmt":"2024-04-05T23:21:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/smudging-policy-at-san-juan-college-is-nearly-finished-administration-says\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T00:26:24","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T06:26:24","slug":"smudging-policy-at-san-juan-college-is-nearly-finished-administration-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/smudging-policy-at-san-juan-college-is-nearly-finished-administration-says\/","title":{"rendered":"Smudging policy at San Juan College is nearly finished, administration says"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><figure class=\"wp-block-image naviga-inline-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/imengine.public.prod.dur.navigacloud.com\/?uuid=6964cf71-e863-4226-ba5c-444fd6d599b6&amp;function=cover&amp;type=preview&amp;source=false&amp;width=2000\" width=\"853\" height=\"567\" alt=\"San Juan College recently partnered with the SCAPE program.\" class=\"naviga-image\" loading=\"lazy\"><figcaption><span class=\"caption\">San Juan College recently partnered with the SCAPE program.<\/span><span class=\"credit\">Courtesy of San Juan College<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><p>San Juan College is working to implement a policy on smudging for the new academic year.<\/p>\n<p>The college is considered a tobacco-free campus but gifts tobacco to guests under board policy 903, which exempts the practice through the American Indian Religious Freedom Act, said Boomer Appleman, vice president of student services.<\/p>\n<p>Smudging refers to the cultural practice of cleansing a space through the lighting of a certain herb.<\/p>\n<p>It is not done on campus grounds because of health and safety issues involving an open flame and the possibility of setting off smoke alarms, Appleman said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut those that are familiar with the practice know it\u2019s not a flame,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>The discussion about smudging protocol has included a possible scenario that would include involving a former Native American Center director. Another point of focus has been on campus housing.<\/p>\n<p>Before Nizhoni Sunrise Suites opened, the discussion gained new momentum.<\/p>\n<p>Brandon Ashely, Native American Center director, is working on a protocol for smudging that considers health and safety, risk management and the department of public safety.<\/p>\n<p>Ashely also has looked at North and South Dakota academic institutions and their protocol for such practices, Appleman said.<\/p>\n<p>Ashley also approached the Associated Students of San Juan College for student input, said Amanda Robles, director of student engagement and campus life.<\/p>\n<p>Camden Ramsey, interim president of Associated Students, said his role in the smudging protocol has been taking the student voices to the board.<\/p>\n<p>At the Feb. 6 board meeting, Ramsey included the protocol in his report.<\/p>\n<p>The Student Organization Leadership Council Meeting is a space that brings issues like the smudging protocol to representatives of the student body, bringing in a student perspective, Robles said.<\/p>\n<p>Those representatives include leadership from the 25 student organizations at San Juan College.<\/p>\n<p>Appleman said students should be able to express themselves and their belief systems.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSometimes our job is to inform students of their rights and not wait for students to say \u2018Well, I have a right\u2019,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Designated spaces will be outdoors throughout campus<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":28312,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[1240,1222,155,799,28,1241],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-28311","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-aztec","tag-bloomfield","tag-education","tag-farmington","tag-headlines","tag-kirtland"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28311","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28311"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28311\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":80375,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28311\/revisions\/80375"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28312"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28311"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28311"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28311"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=28311"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}