University Senate may decide on smoking ban next spring

After expressing serious concerns over a proposal for a campus-wide smoking ban last semester, a University Senate committee is once again considering the issue and will likely reach a decision in the spring.

If the proposal is approved by the senate and university President Dan Mote, the university would become the second four-year institution in the state to ban smoking after Towson University announced its own prohibition last week. At a meeting yesterday, members of the Campus Affairs Committee, which is looking into the issue, weighed the health benefits of such a policy against smokers' rights and questioned whether a ban would be enforceable.

"I definitely think it would be a good thing for the campus," said Laura Russell, president of the university's chapter of Colleges Against Cancer. "A lot of people think [secondhand smoke] doesn't really harm you, but you're breathing in a lot of the same substances the smoker would breathe in."

But the ban would be difficult to enforce, and educating smokers about health risks is a more practical way to address the issue, Russell said.

The senate first considered the issue last year after a student proposed the idea. The committee found the probable health benefits "are probably overshadowed by the legal and other issues" of banning smoking entirely. But the Senate Executive Committee, which sets the agenda for the rest of the senate, decided the issue deserved further consideration and sent it back.

In response, the Campus Affairs Committee yesterday decided to research the bans already in place across the country, talk to the university's legal counsel and meet with the student who originally drafted the proposal. Committee chairman Edward Walters said he hoped to have a report ready by early next semester.

Walters said he supported the ban, arguing that making smoking more difficult could help  prevent future generations from picking up the habit.

"People don't start smoking at 35 or 40 — they start when they're younger," he said. "If you can make it difficult for them to smoke ... I like that."

But graduate student Paulina Perez Mejias said it isn't the university's job to dictate what people do to their bodies. The university allows members of its community to hurt their health in other ways, she noted, such as by eating sugary foods.

"I think the role of the university is to actually educate people, not just prohibit one thing that is not healthy for its students," Perez Mejias said. "We don't want a hostile environment for people who are different."

Committee members noted smoking restrictions already in place are rarely enforced. University policy already prohibits smokers from lighting up inside campus buildings and within 15 feet of building entrances, air intake ducts or windows — a statute that many smokers ignore.

"Who's going to enforce [a ban], and to what degree?" Director of Human Resources Dale Anderson questioned. He asked whether donors, who may have millions of dollars to give to the university, would also be told they couldn't smoke on the campus.

Lisa Eaker, an education lecturer, said she worried a ban could repel some of the most talented faculty, staff and students.

"I just think there are a lot of really brilliant people out there, really interesting people, and I don't want to lose them just because they smoke," she said.

There appears to be significant student opposition to a ban. Last spring, the Student Government Administration defeated a smoking ban proposal, one of only two bills the organization defeated during last semester. Wednesday night, the SGA rejected a bill that would have required smokers to stand an additional 10 feet away from buildings.

But some, such as junior Scott Smith, who is a smoker, initially said he was opposed to the ban but said it might be a positive move overall.

"If it could help me quit smoking, in some sense, it would be all right," the economics, finance and mathematics major said. But he added he would likely ignore the ban and doubted the university's ability to enforce it.

Before the proposal can become part of university policy, it will have to be approved by Mote, who almost always follows senate recommendations.

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