MSA Senate to discuss campus-wide smoking ban
The bill references 160 smoke-free universities.
Dec. 2, 2008
Freshman Peter Smith smokes a cigarette outside Hudson residence hall Monday. A bill that would ban smoking campus-wide is up for discussion in the Missouri Students Association Senate.
(Click graphic to enlarge)
A bill to be introduced to the full Missouri Students Association Senate Wednesday will ask for a stricter smoking ban.
The bill recommends to administration that smoking be prohibited on all campus grounds, both indoor and outdoors, including MU-affiliated buildings and events.
The smoking ban would extend to all campus grounds, which would include open areas, MU-sponsored events, vehicles and affiliated buildings. All smokers would be restricted to designated smoking areas, which would be clearly identified with signs to inform the campus of the change.
Another stipulation of the bill is that the Student Health Center, the Wellness Resource Center and the Missouri Foundation for Health offer free tobacco education and smoking cessation services.
The Student Affairs Committee voted down the bill at its meeting before Thanksgiving recess. The committee believed the initiative would be hard to enforce and was outside their jurisdiction, members said.
"I think the general consensus of our committee is that it was a little bit too paternalistic especially when the substance is 100 percent legal," Vice Chairman Dave Salek said.
A similar bill was introduced and voted down by the Senate last year. Bill sponsor Craig Stevenson said the only change from the bill is an update on the amount of other colleges and universities that have become smoke-free and is, in all practicality, the same bill.
"What happened last year is that basically the bill was rushed through," Stevenson said.
Stevenson said he and Traci Harr of Campus-Community Alliances for Smoke-Free Environments will attend MSA committee meetings Tuesday to answer questions over the bill. He said he doesn't expect a unanimous vote on Wednesday, but hopes for discussion.
The bill, citing Americans for Nonsmokers' Rights, notes that more than 160 colleges in the United States are now smoke-free and that in the CASE 2006 e-mail survey, 61 percent of MU students and 53 percent of MU faculty said they would support both an indoor and outdoor policy on campus.
The Smoking Policy Task Force, created in 2006, gave recommendations but their findings were never significantly acted upon, Stevenson said. The task force recommends that smoking be prohibited within all MU buildings and 20 feet away from all entrances, windows and fresh air intake systems.
"I want people to know that we are not just trying to slide this through," Stevenson said. "I would like to have a good discussion on it."
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