A smoking ban resolution passed by West Virginia University’s Student Government Association will move to a task force designed to discuss all aspects of a smoking policy at WVU.
Originally, SGA thought the resolution would move on to the WVU Board of Governors, but BOG Chair Carolyn Long said it would be "inappropriate" for the BOG to discuss the resolution before it goes through the task force.
University President James P. Clements said he’s listened to the opinion of many students on the smoking ban. Now it’s time to move forward, he said.
"We just need to bring the people together at the table and start talking about it," Clements said.
SGA President Jason Zuccari, however, will bring up the resolution at Friday’s BOG meeting as an informational item.
Zuccari will tell the BOG of SGA’s support for a smoking ban on campus and the resolution is in the task force’s hands.
"There’s really no information," Zuccari said. "I don’t have a policy because the committee’s not formed."
SGA Vice President Whitney Rae Peters and Zuccari appointed three students last week to sit on the task force – SGA Gov. Abby Sobonya, SGA Student Health Chair Jon Bond and graduate student, Dave Slusarick.
Slusarick was chosen because he was not involved with SGA and Sobonya for her concern for policy issues, Peters said.
"We need to make sure that all the proper entities are represented – students have input, staff have input, faculty have input. It’s a big discussion," Clements said.
Recommendations for people to sit on the task force are still coming in from faculty, staff and students and should be in place by semester’s end, said Assistant Vice President for University Relations Becky Lofstead, in an e-mail.
"This isn’t one of those ones where you make a decision in a week or a day or a month," Clements said.
At Towson University, Clements said it took about two years for the task force to develop a smoking policy. It eventually banned smoking on campus.
"Two years seems like along time, but allows for a lot more stakeholders opinions, forums and stuff like that," said SGA Gov. Taylor Richmond.
Peters agreed and wants feedback from every constituency.
"Any type of change in policy making takes time," she said.
A task force style will allow for more discussion and student input, Richmond said.
"It’s better to formulate a more effective policy that the BOG can’t put together themselves," he said.
SGA also passed a campus-wide smoking ban last spring.
Clements said many important discussions about implementation, regulation and enforcement need to take place amongst members of the task force.
"So for example, if you were driving your car right out here on University Avenue, it’s your car, you own the car, but you’re on our campus property, can you smoke in your car or can you not smoke in your car?" Clements said.
"And the way this campus is, it’s such a big campus, you could literally walk down the street, one minute you’re on the campus and one minute you’re off the campus, the next minute you’re on the campus again. How do you enforce it?"
In addition, promoting smoking cessation methods and research on other schools with similar bans is a goal for Soboyna during her time on the task force.
"I’ll definitely get in touch with (University of Pittsburgh)," she said. "We need to start out small, and go for the big and we can’t do that right away."
The state of Pennsylvania created a state-wide smoking ban in 2008 including most universities, such as the University of Pittsburgh.
Clements echoed Soboyna’s point of studying other schools.
"We need to talk about what might work here, what might not work, who’s for it, who’s against it and why, how it affects recruiting of students and faculty and staff," Clements said.
"There’s a lot of pieces to it, but we’re definitely ready for the discussion."
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