Posted on 02/12/2008 3:17:16 AM PST by don-o
A little more than a decade after instituting a limited-use tobacco policy on campus, East Tennessee State University will go tobacco free this fall.
ETSU President Paul Stanton announced the policy change Monday morning, stating in a news release that tobacco usage will only be permitted in private vehicles. Tobacco use is already prohibited in state vehicles.
“We set an example for the rest of the state in 1997 by banning the use of tobacco in all university buildings,” Stanton said in the release. “Revising our policy to reflect increasing health concerns about smoking and the use of other tobacco products is an appropriate response for ETSU regarding these ongoing issues.”
The ban takes effect on Aug. 11, six months from yesterday.
ETSU faculty, staff and students have requested the policy be updated to be compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Vocational Rehabilitation Act.
The new policy states that all ETSU buildings and grounds, all buildings affiliated with the university off campus and the campus at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center at Mountain Home are to all be tobacco free come August.
The university will be posting signs and banners over the next few months to make sure visitors, faculty and students are aware of the change.
“We’re trying to give people enough ramp-up time to know the policy,” Stanton said. “Now we’re ready to take the next step.”
When the first ban went into effect in 1997, state law required at least one room in each building to be designated as a smoking area. It was common prior to 1997 to have smoking in classrooms.
“Back in 1997 when we were the first public institution in Tennessee to make our facilities tobacco free there were some who wanted to continue to have a place to smoke,” Stanton said.
For that reason, a compromise was reached and smoking rooms were designated in the D.P. Culp University Center and the Charles C. Sherrod Library.
Those have since been removed. Smoking has been allowed 50 feet from an entrance, which was hard to enforce because most people cannot judge 50 feet, and awnings provided a place to smoke when it rained.
“It is hard to police,” Stanton said. “What is 50 feet? What is 45 feet? What do you tell people on a rainy day?”
Those are no longer concerns with this new policy, Stanton said.
The ban comes at a time when it seems most feasible to do it. Tennessee enacted a restaurant ban on smoking last summer. It went into effect last October.
“Any time between ’97 and now we could have been stronger and done more but at the same time you have to let government institutions respond,” Stanton said.
Austin Peay State University and Pellissippi State Technical Community College have already implemented similar rules, but Stanton noted ETSU will actually allow smoking in cars, whereas some schools do not.
“We think if people have a private car and they want to do it in there we don’t have a problem with that,” he said.
Violations of the policy will be dealt with in a manner consistent with university policy, according to the Tobacco-Free Campus policy.
Art major John Grant said he understood why the ban is being implemented but thought it may go too far.
“I think the policy is good because they are trying to support people’s health, but at the same time it also seems to violate people’s rights for what they want to do with their own bodies,” Grant said. “So that way, I’m kind of torn about the whole thing.”
English major Adam Hickam said the requirement to go to his car to smoke is irritating.
“I don’t really care for it,” Hickam said. “It annoys me more than it can help, I think. I don’t really see a positive side to it that would really do anything. It’s just irritating tobacco users.”
Others on campus thought the ban was a wonderful idea. Mary Ann Murray thought the 50-foot no smoking point was too little.
“Well, as a respiratory therapist, I feel that that is very good for campus on a whole because even though they have those little outposts, you still have to walk through that cloud of smoke,” Murray said.
ETSU nursing major Jami Landers said she thought the ban was a great thing, because it will improve the aesthetics of the campus by cutting down on carelessly discarded cigarette butts.
“I just noticed a bunch of them ...,” she said as she and Deirdra Bowman walked around campus Monday.
Bowman described herself as a reformed smoker, and was pleased that the new policy is being implemented.
“Well, it is offensive to me, for people who don’t smoke to be around people who do smoke,” Bowman said. “It is offensive for allergy reasons. I just don’t think you have the right to put that on, to risk someone else’s health.”
If students don't want to be forced, (coerced), into this type of control then they should vote with their feet.
So, it is not private property.
I didn't ask if it was "private property", I asked if the school "owned" the property.
If the state "owns" the property then the state should have the largest say on what is allowed on the property.
If the state is represented by the people creating this ban then, so be it.
We can't have it both ways. We want a private property owner to have the say what happens on their property but if the government, state/county/municiple, owns the property we don't want them to have the say?
I don't like that the state restricts liberties, especially with a legal product, BUT...
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