New tobacco policy to take effect
The new university policy concerning tobacco on campus is set to make its way into the official Student Code this semester. The policy limits smoking and other tobacco use on campus.
Jeremy Jennings, president of the Academic Senate, has been working with Ryan Barfuss, substance abuse prevention specialist at the Student Health and Wellness Center, as well as with the senate members, administration and those affected to reach agreement.
“We invited everyone to our meetings,” Jennings said, “and I heard from both sides. From smokers who say, ‘Yeah, ban it, it’ll help me stop,’ to those who feel it is their right.”
Jennings said the Academic Senate worked through fall semester to prepare and write this policy which, during the next few weeks, will be presented to several student and faculty forums. After those presentations, he said it will reach the Board of Trustees and be pushed to go into effect before the end of the semester.
“It is highly favored with the administration,” he said. “There is an emphasis on compromise. Instead of a total ban, it is a selective ban, so we’re crossing our fingers that it’s a go.”
The new policy amends the existing article in the Student Code (Section V-3) to ban smoking in areas where “air circulation may be impeded.”
“It’s sort of a three-fold approach we took. We limit the areas, prohibit sales and smoking at big events,” Jennings said, “and just for good measure, the last part bans advertising for tobacco products. We don’t currently have any tobacco advertising, but we put it into the policy for the future.”
The major area affected will be the TSC Patio, the cause of a great deal of recent controversy. Jennings said he incorporated a great deal of student input during the course of drawing up this compromise.
“I made it a point to sit out on the patio and talk to the people out there smoking,” he said. “One guy told me, ‘We’re like cows. Wherever you put the ashtrays, we’ll flock.'”
Barfuss said he secured a federal grant through the Bear River Health Department, who got it from the Center for Disease Control, to help implement the new policy.
After the policy takes effect, there will be new signs and advertising, and Barfuss said there will be education and tobacco cessation classes as well.
“Enforcement shouldn’t be a big deal,” he said. “It is really by public opinion.”
A student conduct officer is in charge of enforcing problems with all areas of the Student Code, for repeat offenders or serious problems, he said.
“It is just making a point of being considerate,” Jennings said, “especially with that entrance (to the TSC).”
Barfuss said he believed the new plan will be the most beneficial to the student body.
“(With the total ban) there was quite a bit of resistance,” Barfuss said, “but this will help reduce the risks of secondhand smoke as well as reduce smoking rates. It affects large gatherings, bus stops, things like that, rather than banning it outright.”
He mentioned Boise State, which just passed a total ban going into effect this fall, and said while this won’t happen anytime soon in Utah, this is a small step in the right direction.
Federal funding expires at the end of the school year, and Jennings said it is a personal goal of his to make sure the new policy goes into effect by then.
“I want to make sure it gets done on my watch,” he said.
–chelsey.gensel@aggiemail.usu.edu