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Last updated: Thursday, Feb. 9, 1:34 a.m.
News

Survey: Students oppose Tobacco Free Campus Initiative

The Maine Campus | The Maine Campus
By Lauren Fleury
Posted on Feb. 18, 2010, at 12:39 a.m.

The University of Maine student community is in opposition to the proposed Tobacco Free Campus Initiative, according to an informal survey conducted by The Maine Campus.

Of the 30 students interviewed in heavily traveled locations such as Memorial Union, Fogler Library and the mall, 23 said they were opposed to the initiative. Four said they would be supportive if a middle path between complete prohibition and the current system could be established and three supported the proposal.

The Tobacco Free Campus Committee — comprised of faculty, students and community members — has been spearheading the effort to establish a tobacco-free campus since 2007.

Underlying the committee’s goal of a tobacco-free campus is the desire to promote a healthier lifestyle for students, faculty, staff and visitors.

Student senator Nate Wildes said the initiative is a necessary step in order to ensure the health of everyone on campus. He said the distinction between tobacco and other potentially harmful substances is important.

“I can sit in the Bear’s Den while my 21-plus friends have a beer, without the alcohol affecting me directly,” Wildes said. “But I cannot sit in the Bear’s Den while my friends smoke and still expect to not have the tobacco impact my personal health.”

“I feel we should be as strong as possible in education efforts and support to prevent teens and people in their 20s from becoming addicted, or to reverse the early stages of addiction” said faculty Sen. Daniel Belknap. “However, I am also concerned that prohibition and punitive actions are not effective.” Belknap’s Univeristy Environment Committee advised the Faculty Senate to vote down an endorsement of the initiative at the Jan. 27 meeting.

The initiative is “one of the worst ideas I have ever heard,” said Marcus Desveaux, a UMaine student and a smoker.

Smokers “are aware of the consequences. We are aware of our surroundings, and it is not OK to be stripped of the ability to choose whether or not we would like to smoke on campus,” Desveaux said. “As of today, smoking is 100 percent legal in the United States and should not be forbidden.”

“I have bad asthma, but I have many friends who have decided to smoke,” said Kristine Kittridge, a fourth-year nutrition student and nonsmoker. “It’s a personal choice, and I don’t think it should be within the university’s rights to take that away. It would be like banning all unhealthy foods from campus.”

“As long as smoke isn’t being blown in my face, I don’t care,” said Heather Antz, a third-year English student.

Another nonsmoker addressed the issue of who has precedence over outdoor surroundings.

“I’m not a smoker, but I don’t understand why they should take that right away from people,” said Jackson Mcleod, a fourth-year engineering student and nonsmoker. “When you’re inside and have no ability to escape it is understandable, but when you are outside, who is to say if the air is one person’s or another’s? If you dislike the smoke, you easily have the ability to move away from it.”

Some students have interpreted the initiative as a violation of personal rights. “I’m not a fan of smoking, but I am a fan of choices,” said John Talbot, a third-year psychology student.

Although most students surveyed expressed opposition, there were a few in favor of the idea as long as some compromise could be established. Jordan Hattfield, an undeclared first-year student, said she could understand the need for stricter rules surrounding tobacco on campus.

“I’m a smoker, but I’m not super against it,” Hattfield said. “I think that if they had designated smoking areas, it would be a pretty decent compromise. It would have to be something in relation to every building, but I get tired of seeing cigarette butts on the ground too.”

The Tobacco Free Campus Committee said that if it were passed, the initiative would not be immediately enforced, but would be established over three years. The first year, smokers would simply be alerted of the new rule. In the second year, the policy would take effect and voluntary compliance would be sought. By the third year, enforcement would begin.

The last scheduled open forum on the Tobacco Free Campus Initiative will be held in the Bangor Room of Memorial Union at noon Thursday.

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 18th, 2010, 12:39 am. You can follow any responses to this article through the RSS feed.

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  • Valerie

    Little Hall entrances suck the smoke up the stairwells. How about making it so no one smokes in front of entrances. I have breathing problems and smoke makes it so I can not catch my breath; I have had classes in Little since my first semester.

  • Rob Goodwin

    This is what gets me. College students will get all up in arms about being able to smoke a cigarette touting of bull shit about their constitutional right and american freedom to do so. When you tell them every time they turn on the lights a mountain is literally being destroyed in west Virginia, public waters are being poisoned and that all because of coal people are dropping like flies from cancer they could not give to shits about it.

  • sheri

    I hardly think “30 students interviewed in heavily traveled locations” indicates “The University of Maine student community is in opposition”.

    Outdoor locations are biased to include more smokers than indoor locations.

    A sample of 30 out of the population of 12,000 is unlikely to show opposition or favor or anything at all but the opinion of 30 individuals at a certain point in time.

    How many of your non-representative sample of 30 were smokers?

    A headline on the front page implies a story is important and presents the facts.

    We look to you to provide the community with information that is both useful and complete. Please use more journalistic integrity.

  • Bob

    Let’s hope that the campus moves quickly to protect those who are most vulnerable among us from second-hand smoke, including people with asthma, heart conditions, HIV and people of all ages from youth to seniors.

    The California Air Resources Board has determined that breathing cigarette smoke outside is just as bad as breathing it indoors – in fact, it’s toxic.

    It’s time for the campus to expand protections so we can all breathe easier indoors or out.

  • Non-smoking Enthusiast

    The suggested policy that allows three years to smokers for adjustment is too liberal. We need to enforce a Zero Tolerance Policy right away and to get rid of those stinky people quickly and completely. A model of similar policy (not just about smoking) is already implemented by New York City Department of Education. (Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/02/18/new.york.doodle.arrest/index.html?hpt=C2) They handcuff violators and publicly take them away from school property for even minor non-compliance.

    Suggested steps for enforcement of Zero Tolerance Tobacco Free Campus Initiative:

    1. Since smokers will start hiding in bushes and behind trees, harming our health and polluting our community air, student and faculty patrolling brigades should be formed. These grass-roots brigades will pull violators out of hiding places to take pictures of them for pubic display on the Board of Shame.

    2. Police should be trained to detain smokers, to fine them, and to be able to take blood or urine samples at the first suspicion of non-compliance with Zero Tolerance Tobacco Free Campus Initiative. Iron fist is the only tool that will bring our new ordinance to success.

    3. There should be a call to our whole University community for vigilance. Faculty, staff and students who see smoking individuals on university grounds should be able to submit the name and/or area of violation to the agency responsible for enforcing the policy. Submissions should be accepted via online form and e-mail, and can be done anonymously.

    4. On-campus surveillance system should be enhanced: administration should add video cameras that would monitor not only the campus grounds, but also stalls in all public restrooms, including the ones in dormitories: privacy of the bathroom stalls will become a safe harbor for people with their deadly addiction. These restrooms are the property of the University, and police and University administration should not have any legal restrictions to perform video monitoring and recording in order to obtain evidence of violators. To liberals that may oppose this step: law-obedient citizens should not need to worry about it and video recordings and monitoring will be accessed by only authorized personnel. This step is needed to ensure that there is no single place on campus for perpetrators.
    5. The problem of smoking in the dormitory rooms can be easily solved by following the example of Pennsylvania School District: administrators gained the ability to watch students’ behavior through students’ laptop webcams at any time of the day or night. Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/02/19/laptop.suit/index.html?hpt=T2 The cost will be minimal, it is only a small software program to be installed on every user computer registering on campus.

    Some liberals may say that smokers’ rights will be violated: there is no “right” to smoke or to drink under either state or federal law. Prohibiting smoking on campus preserves everyone’s right to have clean, smoke-free atmosphere while allowing adults who are smokers to continue to be so off-campus.

    Strict enforcement of Zero Tolerance Tobacco Free Campus Initiative will quickly eliminate smokers from our lives, who are luckily only a minority on our campus.

    The next step that our administrators should do is to eliminate alcohol – it brings violence and death to our otherwise happy community.

    Students, faculty and staff should appreciate the administration’s efforts on the reduction of health risks associated with exposure to smoke and alcohol. These policies will quickly reduce health-care costs associated with the consumption of these substances. that in turn will strengthen the financial health of our institution. It will also ensure that all members of our campus community have access to the healthy lifestyle.

    Zero Tolerance Tobacco Free Campus Initiative is only the first step to the overall national effort to ensure moral and physical health among members of our society and to enhance their law-obedience.

  • Really Non-Smoking Enthusiast?

    I have read very few comments on this site that have scared me like yours sir/ma’am. I can only hope that it was an exercise in brilliant sarcasm.

    Cameras in bathrooms? Absolutely, 100% illegal. Allowing the school to watch students on their webcams? Have you read 1984? God there is so much wrong with what you’re proposing I’m finding it difficult to even argue with you instead of just getting profoundly angry.

    Grass-roots brigades to monitor smoking? Should we employ thought police as well? We live in the United States, not Soviet Russia. Whether you are a smoker or not, there is absolutely no reason to give up one’s privacy to ensure a tobacco free campus. Head to China for these kind of tactics. Not sure you’ll find clean air though.

  • http://www.google.com rhino

    Why stop at smokers? I think all people with extensive body odor should be banned from campus. I have a sharp gag reflex and I do not think they should be allowed to pollute the air indoors or out.