MU group considers campus smoking ban

The MU Smoking Policy Taskforce will distribute a survey to get an understanding of student and faculty opinion.

By James Patrick Schmidt

Published Oct. 17, 2006

The MU Smoking Policy Task Force will host a forum on Wednesday to discuss a possible campus-wide smoking ban.

The forum, which will last from 11:30 a.m. until 1 p.m., will be held in Jesse Auditorium, where a member of the MU Smoking Policy Task Force will be acting as a moderator of the discussion.

"The task force is taking an impartial viewpoint on this topic. We want to find a consensus," task force co-chairman David Currey said. "Our objective is not to push for a particular change. We are here to listen, collect info and hear from all corners of campus to see if there is a consensus - does the current policy need to be revised?"

Approximately 15 people attended the previous forum, which was held in September. By holding a meeting at midday, Currey said, he hopes more staff will be available to attend.

With Columbia's recent smoking ban revision, "it might influence people to be more outspoken on the issue," Currey said. "I think that the more people speak up on the issue, the better."

The task force is also planning to circulate a survey to gather responses from all MU students, faculty and staff on how they feel about the possibility of a campus-wide smoking ban. Currey said he hopes the survey will be sent out within the next few weeks.

Peers Against Secondhand Smoke supports the forums as a way to discuss the revision of campus smoking policy.

"Our role is finding individual people to go and say how they feel about this, not to support our organization's agenda," PASS Vice President Domingo Pacheco said.

Pacheco said he wants everyone with an interest to attend.

MU Law Professor Thomas Lambert is concerned that suggesting a campus-wide ban on smoking is unnecessary.

"The only justification that the university could have to ban smoking outside is to discourage students from smoking," Lambert said. "To me, that seems sort of paternalistic. College students are adults. At what point is the university going to stop regulating lifestyle choices? Are they going to prevent them from eating fried foods or drinking?"

There are certain locations where Lambert suggested that MU has reason to ban smoking.

"My stance is that the government should not impose smoking bans but that a private land-owner is certainly allowed to restrict smoking on their property, which the university would be doing if they place restrictions on the residence halls," Lambert said.

Legally, the university can ban smoking on any of its property, he said.