SGA seeks student input, opinions on smoking ban

Student input is needed before West Virginia University’s Board of Governors can pass a campus-wide smoking ban, said Jon Bond, Student Government Association’s executive chair for student health.

Students can voice opinions on a campus-wide ban on SGA’s blog, giving University President James P. Clements insight into what the students want, Bond said.

Last year, the former SGA BOG passed a resolution to ban smoking on the entire campus. SGA’s current BOG will not revisit the idea, Bond said.

"We won’t be reinventing the wheel," he said. "A campus ban would be up to the administration."

It would be easier for WVU to pass a smoking ban if West Virginia’s legislators passed an Indoor Clean Air Act, said Gov. Abby Sobonya, because WVU is owned by the state.

"We need to say ‘you can’t smoke inside’ instead of saying ‘you can’t smoke outside,’" she said, referring to the state not passing anything either way, though WVU has been smoke-free inside buildings since 1990.

The act prohibits smoking in a public place or workplace, such as a University, but allows for some exceptions, such as private residences, according to similar Clean Air Acts passed in the country.

Sobonya pointed out it is legal to smoke on West Virgina’s Capitol steps and said WVU needs to take more measures to receive student input other than student forums.

"The University will need to hand out fliers or try to increase support for the Tobacco Free Mountaineers instead of forums, which we know no one turns up for," she said.

Bond says the University should focus more on a Health Sciences Campus ban before moving to the bigger picture.

"I think the Health Sciences Campus issue put students directly in harm’s way based on the hospital going tobacco free," he said, adding the campus will have more smokers on it once the hospitals go smoke-free.

"The campus-wide issue needs to be discussed, and all issues need to be considered, which takes time," Bond said.

Sobonya agreed, and said not only does the University need input, it needs more time to research and consider an issue that would affect students.

Clements has previously said developing a smoking ban takes years. A smoking ban was implemented at Towson University when he was Provost there.

He is currently developing a task force to work on the issue.

4 comments

Michael J McFadden

Sun Dec 6 2009 14:36

WVU wrote, "Secondhand smoke has been proven to be more harmful than inhailing the smoke." That's actually just a sound bite that's simply silly if you think about it. It's only true if you fasten the burning tip of a cigarette directly beneath your nose (1/4" or so away) and then continuously breathe deeply. In any decently ventilated environment it gets diluted 1,000 or even 10,000 times.

As far as the library problem, all that's needed to make it go away is to provide a comfortable study room for smokers and their friends INSIDE the library with enough exhaust ventilation that their smoke won't bother anyone who's worried about it.

Michael J. McFadden
Author of "Dissecting Antismokers' Brains"

WVU Student

Fri Nov 13 2009 18:48

I agree with Jim. Secondhand smoke has been proven to be more harmful than inhailing the smoke. However, how would one be punished if this ban were to pass? You can't have a "law" if there are no repercussions.

Jim

Fri Oct 16 2009 15:45

I think this is great. I hated walking to/from class having to deal with second hand smoke. The part worse than second hand smoke is the disgusting cigarette butts that litter our beautiful campus.

Our library is a wonderful building, but to enter it, you have to wade through a haze of cigarette smoke, and walk over a landfill of butts.

Grow up, stop making a mess, and get on with your lives. Smoking isn't necessary on campus.

Jake Fuller

Wed Oct 14 2009 14:35

I go to school here and think this ban is ridiculous. I have switched from regular smokes to Crown7 smokeless cigarettes and feel that the campuses need to carry these since only water vapor is dispersed from them and there is no second hand smoke and no smell and yet I can still get my nic fix. If you want anymore info go to www.crown7.com, they have all the info on the site that you would need.

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