SGA debates potential campus smoking ban

The Student Government Association (SGA) discussed the potential of implementing a smoking ban resolution on campus at its weekly meeting on Tuesday in Charles Commons.

Freshman Class Senator Rushabh Doshi presented the smoking ban resolution bill, which implements a campus-wide smoking ban initially intended to  begin within the next four years. Doshi explained that this time frame would serve as a transition period for current students to adjust to the policy changes.

“We spoke with Erin Yun, who is deputy to the vice provost for student affairs,” Doshi said. “[She said] we cannot expect a current freshman to change their habits for the next few years, because it is a big part of them.”

Doshi explained that an extended time frame would also help inform students about the policy.

“For every incoming class, we want to provide proper resources to allow students to understand what the smoking ban means,” Doshi said. “We’re trying to add cessation programs. This is not an overnight thing.”

The University’s current policy states that one must be at a 25 feet distance from a building in order to smoke. However, SGA members noted that students often smoke in front of Brody Learning Commons. Concerns about regulating the policy were brought into discussion.

“There was a smoking ban when I started my freshman year. I think most people followed it, but there were definitely people who did not, and you would see people smoking all the time,” Hayley Dott,  junior class senator, said. “So my question is, is there disciplinary action?”

While Doshi suggested determining disciplinary action should be an administrative responsibility, he made recommendations.

“The first time should be a warning,” he said. “Other schools have been doing small fines.”

Kwame Alston, junior class senator and chair of finance, was concerned that the bill would make the campus feel unwelcoming. He noted that it may be an inconvenience to many international students and faculty.

“When we did a survey freshman year, we found that a large amount of the international students that we had submitted against the ban,” Alston said. “In the U.S., many may think that smoking is bad. But in most of the world, that might not be the popular opinion. We felt like we were isolating a lot of students.”

Contention arose over a clause which stated that students who smoke are endangering their own health. Pepe Muniz, junior class senator and chair of student organizations, suggested removing this clause.

“In the spirit of not disrespecting or alienating students who do smoke, I feel like it is making a statement about smoking that isn’t necessarily related to the smoking ban itself,” Muniz said. “People who smoke are able to smoke, and I am proposing to eliminate that line.”

Muniz continued to explain that the purpose of the ban was to help the people being affected by second-hand smoking, rather than forcing smokers to change their habits.

“It is appropriate for us to advocate the smoking ban so that students who are not choosing to smoke should not be affected by this in their own campus,” Muniz said.

Junior Class Senator Mieraf Teka agreed that the bill’s objective would need to be revised.

“I don’t think it’s our place to say statements about a person’s way of life, and I feel like that is what the bill does,” Teka said.

There was discussion as to whether the purpose of the smoking ban resolution was both to protect the health of smokers as well as those affected by second-hand smoking.

“The role of the government is to protect people. In the same way, we have to protect our students,” Senior Class Senator Jeremy Fraenkel said. “We have to teach them that smoking is bad.”

Sophomore Class Senator Akshay Bhamidipati agreed that current smokers should be given the freedom to control their own body, but emphasized that this would affect those non-smokers who do not have a choice.

“Second-hand smoking is arguably worse than first-hand smoking,” he said. “We should be protecting the overwhelming majority of students who go to this campus, who don’t make this choice [but] are still subjected to it.”

The bill also did not include resources to help students quit smoking.

“We’re not doing enough to make sure that students who do have smoking addictions actually can be treated and get help with that,” Alston said. “It just seems like we’re isolating them.”

Upon tabling the resolution, Doshi admitted that his bill could be stronger.

“I agree that we should ask the administration to ask current smokers who may or may not want to quit,” he said. “I don’t think that’s raised properly in the bill.”

SGA members concluded that a campus-wide smoking ban resolution was definitely an issue of far greater scope than what could be discussed in single student meeting.

“We are at a point thinking whether or not we should be telling people what to do with their own body,” Alston said. “We’re not trying to convince each other what the role of the government is, and governing people’s health is, in these next 20 minutes.”