No butts about campus smoking

PUBLISHED by The Daily Free Press

As Alex Stewart flipped through college pamphlets and brochures last year in search of her ideal school, a campus-wide smoking ban at Gainesville State College caught her eye.


Now a freshman at the school, Stewart says she cannot cross the street or make her way back to her dorm without being bombarded by signs prohibiting the practice, and more and more universities across the country are following suit to help students kick their cravings.

"I just think it's a better atmosphere," Stewart said. "It's a big part of our school."

The small Georgia school enacted the ban five years ago, said Gainesville State President's Assistant Leora Myers.

"Before the policy, we had several complaints having to go through smoke-filled areas from all sectors -- faculty and students," Myers said. "It seemed when smokers go outside the building, they stand outside doors, and you had to run fast through the smoke to clear the air."

Almost 100 colleges and universities across the country have completely extinguished smoking on their campuses, according to a study the American Nonsmokers' Rights Foundation released last month.

No school in Massachusetts made the list, though, and Maine is the only state in New England in which colleges have adopted a complete ban.

"More student body governments as well as [college] administrations and faculty have identified [second- hand smoke] as a public health concern, taking initiative to provide safe campuses," said Americans For Nonsmokers' Rights manager Frieda Glantz.

University of Mississippi associate attorney Donna Gurley said her school has received positive feedback since enforcing a ban.

"Most people who don't smoke are relieved that they don't have to walk through a cloud of smoke around buildings," Gurley said. "Of course, we have had some very vocal smokers who have complained, but. . . . most people are in favor of the policy."

Students at the University of Central Missouri are still waiting for a total smoking ban to take effect at their school after a vote to ban it last year, said graduate Ben Money, who does not believe the ban is fair.

"You can't tell people to not emit carcinogens into the same air that hundreds of semis and cars pollute daily," Money said.
Boston University, which already bans smoking in all buildings and residence halls, has no plans to adopt a total no-smoking policy, said university spokesman Colin Riley.

"I can't imagine how you would stop someone walking through campus that is a city resident from smoking," he said. "I think smokers are well aware of how non-smokers are affected."

Some BU students who do not light up are mixed about any potential ban.

"When [smoking] infringes on your ability to walk through a space comfortably, it's not fun," said College of Communication freshman Alyssa Castelli.

COM freshman Pedro Falci said students should be allowed the option to smoke.

"Even though I'm not a smoker, I think people should have the liberty to smoke if they wish," he said.