Twitter
Facebook
Reddit
Digg
Tell us what you think!Send a letter to the editor about this or any other article in The Maine Campus.
University of Maine student and faculty reactions to a proposed tobacco ban are still mixed despite months of research by the Tobacco Free Campus Committee.
According to Lauri Sidelko, co-chair of the committee, extensive efforts were made over the summer to gather the opinions of faculty and staff. She said the committee will be working to educate and listen to students’ views this fall.
Research has been gathered from universities that have already gone tobacco-free and found success with their programs. Last spring, UMaine Student Government conducted an online survey asking for student and faculty opinions on the initiative. The survey, which had more than 1,000 respondents, showed a 29 percent approval rating. According to committee co-chair Polly Moutevelis-Burgess, the survey has not been included into the committee’s research on the basis that its presentation was flawed.
Sidelko said all recommendations made by the committee have to be submitted to university President Robert Kennedy, Vice President of Student Affairs Robert Dana and Vice President of Administration and Finance Janet Waldron, although Kennedy has the final say.
The subject has sparked controversy on campus, as many students are still not sure if going tobacco-free is the right step for UMaine.
A smoker’s point of view
Josh Burnell is a fifth-year electrical engineering and technology student and a self-described user of “all forms of tobacco.”
“If they crack down and enforce everything, I’m probably going to go more smokeless tobacco . It’s not as apparent,” Burnell said.
“It’s a public university – there are private universities that are dry, that are absolutely chem-free. A lot of them are religiously associated, but they’re still private schools, whereas I’ve been paying taxes since I was 16.”
“I pay $600 a credit hour, being an out-of-stater. I don’t want to be told what to do,” said Carrie Doe, a fifth-year animal sciences student. Doe quit smoking eight months ago but said she thinks it’s a choice people have to make on their own, when they’re ready.
Tobacco has been scientifically proven to be a health risk, but Burnell remains unconvinced that the university has a right to decide that for students. “If all of a sudden we give the university the power to ban things for health, what’s next? Alcohol? Fatty food on campus? If heart problems are a major killer in the United States, are we going to enforce a minimum exercise limit on everyone? How far is the university willing to go for our health?”
Amber Wetmore, a senior bio-chemistry student said she had heard about the initiative “through the grapevine,” but hadn’t heard any official announcements.
“I’ve heard about it happening on other campuses, but this is the first I’ve heard of it at UMaine. I thought it was pretty ridiculous when I heard about it on other campuses,” Wayne Sowers, a senior biology student, said. “Smoking outside, how does that affect anyone else?”
Burnell said the initiative does not reflect the desires of most students. He cited the GSS survey conducted last year as proof of this.
“I am opposed to it, and I don’t think it was well thought out. I think it was slipped under the radar. I don’t think it [the committee] gave the students a vote.”
Concerns from a staff member
Meghan Hannington said the plan to ban tobacco on campus isn’t feasible for a campus this size. “There are so many people on this campus … that they couldn’t enforce [the ban].”
As a former smoker and human development student, Hannington said she used to smoke walking along the mall between classes.
“I wouldn’t go all the way off campus just to have a cigarette [if I still smoked]. I wouldn’t follow the rules – I would have been in a hole somewhere, hiding [my cigarette].”
She said for tobacco-using employees at UMaine, the ban would make cigarette breaks impossible. “How would they get off campus to have a cigarette and then come back in 15 minutes? I mean, it just wouldn’t happen. I think they’d be breaking rules all the time.”
Hannington also works for the university as an administrative assistant at Witter Farm but doesn’t think the ban will have too great an effect on her work there. “I don’t think we count enough as campus to have it apply to us,” Hannington said. “However, I do wonder if we’ll end up with a bunch of people coming over to Witter Farm to have their cigarettes.”
For those who still want to use tobacco, Hannington thought smoking in cars should be permitted. She explained that in the closed-in atmosphere of a car, the smoke wouldn’t be bothering anyone else.
“I don’t think it [the initiative] was handled well . I’ve done lots of classes on how to conduct appropriate research and surveys, and I don’t think that they [the committee] had a very good, representative sample. I don’t think that people even knew that it was happening.”
As for whether or not this program will work at UMaine, Hannington was clear on her position. “Will it be a success? No. Not at all.”
Opinions of TFC supporters
Bailey Knowlton, a fourth-year biology student, began campaigning for a tobacco-free campus over a year ago. “I had a meeting with several deans and administrators to suggest tobacco-free corridors. We decided from that, that the campus would be better off overall to be tobacco-free.”
Knowlton said the confusion among students stems from “a lot of hearsay.” She said the focus for TFC right now is to educate, discuss the plan with students and hopefully make the campus population more informed about the group’s goals.
“I think it [TFC] is a good idea because it’s obnoxious when you have to walk through smoke,” said Jennifer Laroque, a junior social work student.
“It’s really gross,” sophomore nursing student Sarah Thompson said. “Banning tobacco will make our campus cleaner.”
Besides the obvious health reasons, Knowlton said that cigarette butts also have an environmental impact, because they can take months to biodegrade.
“This should minimally affect smokers; they’ll have to go a little farther to a location where smoking is allowed. Addiction is hard to overcome for some people though, and resources will be provided on campus to help those who want to quit be successful,” Knowlton said.
In response to the negative reactions of some students, Knowlton said the response was “typical for this age group.” She said the committee had expected a backlash from those who felt the plan would infringe on their rights.
“Those who are upset by the initiative are reacting to the idea that the university is changing policy . without consulting the student body. I can understand why they’d think this, but it is not a right to use tobacco products; it’s a choice, and one which is negatively affecting others or the environment,” Knowlton said.
Laroque mentioned a successful ban in the state of Maine on smoking in restaurants. “It [TFC] is the same thing. No one wanted to have smoking in restaurants, that’s why we banned it. Maine is clean, and we want to keep it cleaner.”
A non-smoker’s viewpoint
David Cox has never smoked, but he still has a strong opinion about the Tobacco Free Campus Initiative. “Smoking is a legal activity. As such, people who smoke should be allowed to smoke in reasonable areas.” He described the program as “coming down as an edict in the guise of a choice.”
“It does seem like whoever is behind it already made the plan for the campus, but they’re letting us go through the motions of discussing it,” Cox said. “The ban on everything tobacco is really ridiculous.”
Cox is a lab technician for the department of marine sciences and has studied abroad in Turkey. He remembered looking out his dorm window and seeing a “graveyard” of cigarette butts. “I don’t think it should be like that either. I think there should be a balance.”
Cox said that the ban on tobacco will just push users inside. “By making it more forbidden, I think it’s just going to push smoking into areas where there probably was never smoking before. Like right now you can smoke . out in the open. If you’re not allowed to smoke anywhere, then people are probably going to be smoking in their rooms more . because they’ll be hidden.”
Everyone has seen the propaganda, Cox said. “We know cigarette smoking is bad, but as adults we have the option to say yes we’ll smoke or no we won’t smoke.”
Citing the survey conducted by GSS, he said that a lot of students commented on spitting tobacco. “A lot of people didn’t like spitting tobacco because it’s gross . People spit out gum. I got gum on my clothes once at a computer cluster – that’s gross too. But I’m not going to say that people should ban chewing gum.”
Cox suggested building gazebos for smokers so people who dislike the smoke can avoid it. “I don’t think it’s saying that the university is encouraging smokers, but rather the university is saying that we know these people are here, and we accommodate all people.”
Bangor Daily News