Senate snuffs campus smoking ban

On-campus smokers can breathe freely agan after the University Senate's most powerful committee tossed out a proposed campus-wide smoking ban yesterday.

The Senate Executive Committee recommended strengthening the university's ability to enforce existing smoking rules rather than instituting an all-campus ban. The committee charged with examining the issue, which was brought to the senate's attention last year by an undergraduate concerned about the health risks of secondhand smoke, concluded enforcing such a ban would be difficult for a campus this large. Educating students about the dangers of smoking and the standing restrictions, they decided, would be more effective.

The senate will not vote on the issue. Instead, senate officials will send a letter to the Division of Administrative Affairs highlighting the need for greater enforcement of the smoking policy — it is against university rules to light up within 15 feet of a building.

"We want to strengthen the laws we have in place," said Edward Walters, music instructor and chairman of the committee charged with evaluating the viability of instituting a ban. "This isn't easy and it's never going to be perfect system, but we can make the campus healthier."

Walters said his committee recommended increasing the number of signs that designate where it's acceptable to smoke and making university community members more aware of the campus's regulations in lieu of a ban.

Linda Mabbs, senate chair-elect and voice professor in the music school, proposed installing signs around the campus that would be physically posted 15 feet away from buildings, showing exactly where it is legal to smoke, and providing disposals for cigarette butts to prevent littering.

Undergraduate senator Jonathan Sachs said he would like to see these alternatives implemented.

"I think the recommendations make a lot of sense," Sachs said. "The next step is to start enforcing these rules. It bothers me a lot when I walk out of class and the guy next to me immediately starts smoking. Smokers and non-smokers can live in harmony if the rules are enforced."

Whether prohibiting smoking on the campus would be legal was another issue Walters said clouded the debate.

Executive Assistant to the President for Legal Affairs Terry Roach cautioned the senate that a ban would most likely be challenged if implemented, Walters said.

Although students have heated opinions on whether smoking should be outlawed, they largely agree on one thing — regulating smoking on such a large campus will be a challenge.

"I hate it when I'm walking somewhere and someone's smoking next to me and it gets in my face," said freshman letters and sciences major Alexandra Bull. "It's not a good situation. I don't think it will make much of a difference if they try to enforce the rules more. It doesn't matter if you're 15 feet away from a building, you're still smoking around non-smokers."

But some smokers, like sophomore communication major Matthew Marberry, said it all comes down to a matter of rights.

"It's everyone's decision what they want to put in their body," he said. "Everyone knows that it's not good to smoke, but smokers aren't breaking the law. It's a common courtesy issue. If someone next to me asked me to move while I was smoking, I would. Smokers aren't breaking the law, and they should be allowed to do it."

If a ban had been recommended, this university would have been the second institution in the state to implement such a policy — Towson University passed a campuswide smoking ban last semester.

redding@umdbk.com