(Well, maybe.)
I was browsing the Towerlight online before going to work this morning and one headline jumped out and made me chortle and proclaim “Fat Chance!”
Smoke-free campus?
Committee to consider smoking ban; could start next yearThe sight of students and faculty huddled outside buildings for smoking breaks may be a thing of the past if Towson implements a policy making campus smoke free.
Following a request from the president’s council last month, the Substance Education and Concerns Committee is creating a formal recommendation for Towson President Robert Caret.
Caret, who smoked for 14 years before quitting, doesn’t like the way some smokers behave at TU. He said he’s not trying to stop people from smoking, but he doesn’t like cigarette butts that litter campus or the secondhand smoke others must tolerate.“What I won’t let them do is force others to live with their habit. I really resent the way they’re treating the campus,” Caret said.
Jana Varwig, chair of SECC and associate vice president for student affairs, said it is the committee’s intention to look at other schools and get feedback from Towson faculty, staff and students about the idea.
“We hope to have a recommendation back to the president’s council by the end of the fall semester,” Varwig said.
Towson will need to address certain issues before a ban could be implemented.
“The two biggest issues as we go forward are: where will smokers go? And number two is enforcement. If we were to go to [a non-smoking campus] what are the consequences if you do smoke?” Jerry Dieringer, assistant vice president and director of housing and residence life, said.
Smoking has been forbidden in buildings for years. Three years ago, Towson adopted a policy that required smokers to move at least 30 feet away from building entrances.
“It seemed to have a fair amount of success,” Dieringer said. “There have been some problems. Generally it worked pretty well.”
Some students ignore the rule, choosing to smoke directly outside Linthicum Hall and other buildings.
Dieringer said the policy doesn’t have a strong enforcement mechanism, an issue that would need to be looked at with this policy as well.
“Needless to say, as long as there are smokers and non-smokers, there are going to be issues of where it’s appropriate,” he said.
Dieringer said a committee will be formed to help create the policy recommendation. The committee will look for significant student input.
I love how Linthicum Hall is prominently mentioned in the article. You can’t exit through the front door (at class-change, anyway) without walking through a crowd of students smokin’ up. Often times, just standing around enjoying some fresh air before going back in to class is enough to prompt someone to come up and ask if you can spare them a cigarette. Sorry, dude, don’t smoke (and I’m already broke enough as it is).
Anyway, I don’t think Towson will be able to enforce a smoking ban on campus. I also don’t think its fair to smokers to enforce one on campus – sure, a perfect world would be one where no one smoked, but a lot of undergrads smoke, and a lot of undergrads live on campus. Sure, make ‘em go down to the bottom floor of their residence hall and walk outside when they feel the need for a cigarette, but expect them to walk off campus property? I think that might be asking a bit much.
I agree with Caret — seeing cig butts littering campus pisses me off. So I say Towson should work on policing the campus and enforcing existing littering laws against the school’s staff, faculty, and students. Perhaps a carrot and a stick approach? “Hey, if you assholes don’t start putting your cig butts in the trash, we’re going to ban smoking altogether, so get your shit together, fuckers.”
Or, something.
They made our local hospital a smoke free campus. I’m not really complaining because I actually got the job of putting up the new, “this is a smoke-free campus” signs, but I feel bad for the nurses who can’t even go outside for a smoke anymore. You know how stressful that job is?
Comment by Marilyn — May 7, 2007 @ 11:00 am
Smokers would be persecuted much less if they weren’t such slobs about it. It’s like eating fast food and throwing your garbage on the ground. Disgusting.
Comment by Slave to the Dogs — May 7, 2007 @ 11:33 am
As a (briefly) current and former smoker…making the entire campus smoke free is a little extreme considering people have to live there. They’d pretty much be making every smoker absolutely fucking miserable. And possibly violent.
As for the butts…I think having desgnated smoking areas that provide some shelter from the elements, as well as say, a place to put out cigarettes next to every trash can, would go a long way to alleviating that. And a fine, because some people just don’t get it unless you hit ‘em where it hurts.
Comment by Golden Lady — May 7, 2007 @ 12:10 pm
I am a smoker and I HATE people who don’t use ashtrays. They need to put ashtrays places where smokers hang out and that would elivate the litter. It won’t work banning smoking on campus…smokers will be slightly inconvenienced but not THAT inconvenienced.
Comment by Jenny — May 7, 2007 @ 12:21 pm
[...] MalnurturedSnay (via Blogtimore) doesn’t give the policy much of a chance of being enforced and there’s a lot of good information in the post and the comments on how the issue might be received on campus. [...]
Pingback by Towson U. to ban outdoor smoking? — May 7, 2007 @ 12:25 pm
We all know that smoking kills — no worries, if it would just do it faster.
Comment by al — May 7, 2007 @ 1:16 pm
Sounds noble in theory but as massive as most campuses are I find it hard to believe that ALL smoking can be ban.
Comment by mac — May 7, 2007 @ 2:21 pm
smokers suck and should all die, STAT.
but my compassionate side would still let them have a place to smoke.
a closed room with a giant blender blade in the middle that makes them all into a smoker-shake.
okay no blender then. fine.
just random lethal gassing.
i refuse to believe there is a place called Timonium. that is ridiculous.
this web page does strange things when you scroll it by clicking the scroll wheel.
Comment by grumblemurray — May 7, 2007 @ 2:47 pm
Yeah – good luck with that. Ohio just passed a state-wide smoking ban in any public place… The f’ed up part of that is that there are counties that are so poor, they can’t enforce the law. Instead of trying to make some moderate changes over time, the state in its infinite wisdom went whole hog on the smoking ban and now, does not have the resources to enforce it.
Plus they are backtracking and making changes to what was written in the ballot and what the voters voted for.. What the fuck? How screwed up s our legislative process?? Whether you are for or against the smoking ban, if the voters of a state pass a law – AS IS- the state should not be able to change the law unless they go back to the voters.
I am ranting – I will shut up now.
I do love you snay.
Comment by ADW — May 7, 2007 @ 2:57 pm
they should do it like Disney World…You get a 12×12 gross dumpy out of the way place far away from anything, anyone, to smoke in, with a huge ashtray in the middle. And that’s it. I hate smoking. My boyfriend just quit this weekend. I hate that he used to flick the buts on the ground or out the window and that he would smoke a pack a day. I hated how he would smoke right before getting in the car and blow the last puff into the car and it would make me sick and so I would roll the window down. Oooo I vented, sorry. I say, let them smoke, just make them do it in that 12×12 space.
Comment by stepping over the junk — May 7, 2007 @ 5:45 pm
P.S. I knew someone who smoked who put the buts in his pocket when he was done! I thought that was nice. Also, I was recently at a big hotel in Maryland, just outside of Baltimore and they have a corridor for smoking (outside) and have signs that say something like (this place for smoking only) or something like that. I thought that was cool. Then I could just stay away from it.
Comment by stepping over the junk — May 7, 2007 @ 5:47 pm
As if.
Well, maybe so, they made NYC a restaurant/bar/office smoke free zone…
Comment by LisaBinDaCity — May 7, 2007 @ 6:49 pm
Can’t wait til they start trying to ban alcohol again.
Comment by losrulz — May 7, 2007 @ 7:26 pm
Would they still be allowed to smoke my “White Owl”?
Comment by puerileuwaite — May 7, 2007 @ 7:50 pm
They could, as a middle ground, have some distance you must be from the building before you smoke. That would at least take care of the having to walk through smoke problem. But I don’t think banning it entirely would work. Except for cigars – people chould be allowed to smoke cigars only inside sealed plastic bags.
Comment by CS — May 7, 2007 @ 9:24 pm
Marilyn — I don’t doubt it! Hope they don’t take their frustrations out on the patients, eh?
Kerpupples — Yeah, I’d like to beat some non-littering sense into them!
Golden Lady — It is extreme. I don’t think it’ll work for that reason.
Jenny — They do have them where the smokers congregate! I think a lot of the smokers just don’t care.
Mac — Yep. Plus, people live there and that’s unfair.
GrumbleMurray — I like the way you think, but I’d save that room for the tailgaters …
ADW — Awww, I luv you too!!! Never been to Ohio before, though, and it looks less and less attractive the more I learn about it ;)
SotJ — All smokers in the world in one square? Works for me!
Lisa — Baltimore City has passed a smoke ban. Towson U. is just north of the city.
Losrulz – They can have my beer when they pump it out of my cold dead stomach.
Pueril – Deviant sex wouldn’t be restricted, don’t worry.
CS – they do. Thirty feet.
Comment by MalSnay — May 7, 2007 @ 10:22 pm
This sounds a lot to me like “dry campuses” with no booze. It seems like a noble effort (well, to anyone but me) and in theory it should work, but then you try it and it just fails miserably.
Comment by The Stormin Mormon — May 7, 2007 @ 11:24 pm
I smoked for 16 years (about 2 1/2 packs a day) and have been smoke-free for over 20 years. I could still kill for a cigerette sometimes.
Comment by Nessa — May 8, 2007 @ 5:29 am
Haha, I could see people crowding into bathrooms for a smoke like in high school and middle school.
Comment by silverneurotic — May 8, 2007 @ 10:43 am
I talk a little about anti-smoking on my blogLaurianne’s Hope, because even though my sister died of non-smoking related lung cancer, smoking is a major factor is lung cancer.
I worked at a smoke-free business. A ver large business, with branches in various countries. When people smoked, they took a thirty minute break to walk off the property, because smoking on the business grounds was a termination offense.
I just see students as trying to find away around it though.
Comment by Lynda — May 8, 2007 @ 11:37 am