No more butts in residence halls.
Starting next fall all residence halls on campus will be non-smoking, according to a new policy from the Department of Residence Life released Dec. 17.
Students living in Marchetti Towers, Grand Forest and the Student Village will maintain the option to smoke in their apartment in accordance with University guidelines.
This decision follows upon the recommendation of the Student Government Association Residential Affairs Committee.
“The committee was in favor of a non-smoking residence hall system,” said Nick Sarcone, committee chairman. “Student’s smoking not only affects them but those around them.”
Early last semester Dr. Nancy Delaney, medical director for the Student Health and Counseling Center, went to Argyle Wade, director of housing, with her concerns about smoking.
Delaney said many students have complained to her about the effects of the smoke on their health.
She then went before the SGA Residential Affairs Committee to present her case for a non-smoking residence hall system.
According to the information presented by Delaney, second-hand smoke increases a person’s risk for heart attack by 30 percent. Students who enter college as non-smokers and live in smoke-free buildings are 40 percent less likely to become smokers. She also noted that the American Colleges Health Association recommends that all colleges and universities be smoke-free for both fire and second-hand smoke reasons. The association also recommends a 20-foot non-smoking area around all buildings.
Following her presentation, the committee discussed the policy change and a variety of possible alternatives, including creating more non-smoking floors, designating smoking floors or simply stricter enforcement of current policies.
According to Sarcone, the committee hesitated from creating smoking floors as they seemed to put the problem in a condensed area that was sure to spread and likely wouldn’t be a highly sought residential housing option.
The committee also considered recommending a 20-foot non-smoking area around all buildings, but opted not to recommend it. “We thought it a bit extreme,” Sarcone said.
Apartments were discussed as potentially smoke-free environments, but the committee decided to keep them as they are. “If we call those apartments, the students should have the same freedoms of anyone living in an apartment off campus,” Sarcone explained.
Residence Life supported the recommendation of SGA and chose to adopt their recommendations as policy.
Wade said, “I think they made a sound choice considering the strong body of research on second-hand smoke.”
He noted that the number of floors where a student can smoke in the current system is “far out of proportion” to the number of students who declare themselves smokers during room sign-up. Out of 90 floors in the system, only 13 are non-smoking.
In fact, of the 2,011 students living in the residence halls this past fall, only 34 declared themselves smokers.
Wade said that the policy will be enforced in the same manner as all policies that involve burning substances: a student may be confronted by a staff member who smells or sees something burning.
Upon learning of the change in policy, Delaney was excited, but hopes the entire system will go smoke-free soon. “Smoking is a choice, it is not a right. You’re not just harming yourself, you’re hurting those around you,” she concluded.
