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.
Long before University of Maine President Robert Kennedy announced his approval of an initiative to make UMaine tobacco-free, members of the university community were asking questions about how the policy would be enforced.
The ban, which will take effect Jan. 1, 2011, was approved by the president in February, and will prohibit the use of any tobacco products on any university-owned property. So far, the university has only rough plans for enforcement.
“‘Enforcement’ is sort of a word that comes up, but it’s not really in our jargon,” Kennedy said last week. “That’s not the role [of the university]. We really want to work with people. I think peer pressure can mean an awful lot.” Enforcement does not seem to be a focal point of any of the administrators in charge of fleshing out the policy. That’s not the case at the Kennebec Valley Community College, the only other institution of higher education in Maine with a tobacco-free policy.
John Delile, dean of finance and administration at the college, said students who do not comply with the tobacco-free policy are asked if they are aware of the policy. If they are not, they are given a copy of the policy and asked to comply. If the student continues to use tobacco, they are referred to the dean of students who determines a course of action that could include counseling.
But the college does reserve the right to take punitive action. KVCC doesn’t impose any fines to the policy’s habitual violators, instead opting to tie the policy to enrollment, according to Delile.
“It starts with counseling by the dean of students,” Delile said last week. “It could lead to suspension or dismissal.”
Delile said no student has ever been dismissed or suspended for noncompliance, and that the college has a 97 to 98 percent compliance rate. He said most students comply after being counseled by the dean of students.
Dean of Students Robert Dana said UMaine will have a similar plan to deal with habitual noncompliance, but that suspension or dismissal are not being considered as possible punitive actions.
“The expectation is that if somebody were to be continually violating the policy, someone in my office would talk to them” so that they become “adherent to the policy,” Dana said. “They’ll be supported, encouraged and further educated.”
Dana said the university is not expecting enforcement to be an issue because of the policy’s phase-in implementation and the education efforts planned. He believes that over time, students will come to know UMaine as a tobacco-free campus, and that with a good public health campaign, UMaine can expect almost 100 percent compliance.
“That’s the theory in a public health campaign,” Dana said. “With substantial notice and plenty of education, the community will turn toward something health-oriented.” He said the research conducted before the implementation of the tobacco-free policy indicates the university won’t have a problem with enforcement.
“People want to throw cold water on this and say ‘If you don’t enforce it with an iron fist, people won’t do it.’ The evidence though, is that they will do it. You don’t want to create a smoking police and you don’t want to control people. You want to engage this as a positive community norm.”
Dana said according to surveys conducted by the university’s Alcohol and Drug Education Program, only 6 percent of students are “dependent smokers” who smoke every day. He said these students will be the focus of the most concerted education efforts.
“We do things in concentric circles,” Dana said. “So the tightest circle will be on those students and staff who smoke most frequently and who will find this the most difficult.” Dana said ADEP will employ a group of tobacco specialists who are trained to assist people in quitting tobacco products.
One key difference between UMaine and Kennebec Valley Community College is the lack of residential housing at KVCC. Delile said this will be a cause for concern at UMaine.
“This will be harder for a residential campus to institute because people will smoke in their rooms, and that’s hard to control,” Delile said. “We don’t have residence halls yet, but I can predict that our enforcement problem will increase once we do.”
Dana doesn’t think students will turn to vandalism in order to avoid detection while smoking in their rooms. Moreover, he doesn’t expect the few die-hard smokers to be a big enough problem to warrant a full-out effort to purge the campus of any remaining tobacco products.
“If someone has got to smoke, and they’re going to do that come what may, we’re not going to create a police state,” Dana said. “The intent is to create a healthy campus climate. If some people continue [to use tobacco], that won’t spoil the whole apple cart.”
