I don't know about you, but my first day at the university was probably one of the most exciting and, frankly, nerve-racking experiences I've had in the past few years. New school, new friends and new environment. After settling in and attending my first dorm floor meeting and all of the other activities associated with move-in, I settled down in bed.
As I was falling asleep, I smelled it for the first time. No, not the disgusting odor that is typical of the male side of the hallway. Rather, I smelled smoke creeping in from outside.
During the next few months, the smoke became unbearable. Even though my room is on the third floor, smoke still comes in at all hours, especially at night. After talking to other people in my dorm and in other buildings, I found out this is not an isolated problem.
When I was appointed as a freshman legislator in the Student Government Association, the organization gave me a platform to work on my top priority: changing the smoking radius from 15 feet to 25 feet around buildings. The change would put the university on par with large number of other colleges around the country. In fact, all of the university's peer institutions and most other schools within the University System of Maryland have at least a 25-foot radius.
Some will argue 25 feet is too far and simply unrealistic. However, it is not far when compared with many other colleges, including the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, a peer institution, which has a 100-foot policy. The University of Michigan will ban smoking on its three campuses in 2011. Towson University will soon join the growing list of about 365 colleges to completely ban smoking on their campuses.
Others will say 25 feet is not far enough. But as we saw last semester when the University Senate's considered instituting a total smoking ban on this campus, we need to compromise. This action created an intense outcry and didn't lead to any change. The goal of my proposal is to create a middle ground — one that is acceptable for smokers and non-smokers alike.
I intend to work with Facilities Management, as well as other university stakeholders, to create this change.
We all know it's hard to quit smoking, but in this case, the university's new "Unstoppable Starts Here" slogan need not apply. Resources are available for free from the University Health Center for students who wish to quit smoking. I also encourage all students who smoke to come to the university's chapter of Colleges Against Cancer's event, the Great American Smokeout, on Thursday to find out about smoking cessation programs.
Tonight, the SGA will be voting on my bill that would advocate taking this action. This is just the first step in clearing the air.
Zach Cohen is a freshman legislator in the SGA. He can be reached at zbcohen at umd dot edu.
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