I wrote another article at my internship about smoking on campuses, which hits close to home from the RA perspective. Here it is:
College students are starting to think twice about where they light up on campus. State smoking laws are becoming much stricter with the public’s increased awareness about health risks of first- and second-hand smoke, and colleges and universities, along with their residence halls, are following suit. More than 140 campuses are now smoke-free, with 500 campuses implementing smoke-free policies in the residence halls, according to the American Lung Association, and those numbers are growing. The most recent change comes from the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education (PASSHE), which banned smoking on the campuses of the system’s 14 universities in September 2008. This creation of a completely smoke-free state university system is unprecedented, and stems from the state legislation banning smoking in all public places, which went into effect the following day.

Since the state of Illinois banned smoking in public places and work places in January 2008, Southern Illinois University in Carbondale has complied by altering its restriction of smoking 15 feet away from all buildings to 25 feet away. Julie Payne Kirchmeier, director of university housing, has observed both positive and negative outcomes; “When we are questioned by smokers, our response is that it’s a state law, and it closes down the discussion. It makes it easy to enforce, but you don’t get to have an educational conversation about the effects of smoking.� SUIC’s tobacco committee is aiming for a “smoke-free� campus, but Kirchmeier sees no need to implement restrictions further than the state law; “There are people who chose to do it, and it’s legal. Why would we continue to infringe upon their rights?�

The concern for smokers’ rights is a heated one within this issue. Many institutions try to set up accommodations for their smokers, such as designated smoking areas.

The California Maritime Academy in Vallejo has two “smoke-shacks� kept a distance from their residence halls. The smaller outdoor room is eight-square-feet of Plexiglas with a metal roof, costing the school $8000, and the larger one is sixteen-square-feet and slated with a solid roof, costing $18,000. Executive director of Auxiliary Services Diane Rawicz believes the price is worth it “if smokers have a place that’s comfortable, and it reduces the litter and smoke that goes up into the residence hall rooms.� There are also five other smoking areas on campus.

The students, staff and faculty at Cal Maritime participated in a campus-wide forum and expressed adamant concern about their right to smoke, according to Rawicz. As a result, the school set up the designated smoking areas. “If there’s a place for them to go, they’ll go there,� said Rawicz. “They don’t feel shunned because they are with other smokers.�

Steve Heaslip, manager of auxiliary services at Babson College in Wellesley, Massachusetts, argues that there should be residence halls specifically for smokers. “The residence hall is your home if you are a student, and you should have a right to be comfortable for the price you pay,� said Heaslip. “Smokers are deemed as monsters and villains. People are giving up their freedoms without a fight and it’s pathetic.�

When considering accommodations for the rights of smokers, schools find that today’s general student population prefers a smoke-free environment, and they must cater to the needs of the majority.

In July 2007, The State University of New York Board of Trustees implemented a policy that banned all smoking on campuses and in residence halls. The remaining nine percent of SUNY schools that still allowed smoking, including SUNY Morrisville, worried at first about the student response. However, students reacted positively. “The transition was a lot easier than we anticipated,� said Armanda King, director of residence life at SUNY Morrisville. “The concern from the faculty and staff was if students couldn’t smoke in residence halls, it would affect their decision to come here. That wasn’t the case at all.�

At Washburn University in Topeka, Kansas, the student government voted twice to restrict smoking, but it was never implemented by the university. Finally, students took action to execute a thirty-foot restriction trial for thirty days, led by the student government, which was a big success among the campus population. “Student government is the way to go,� said Duke Divine, director of business services at Washburn University, disappointed that the trial policy wasn’t permanently put into effect by the university. “Administration doesn’t want to push a policy on their other administrators.�

There are potential difficulties of enforcing smoking restrictions within both the student and administration population. Many are concerned with the distance constraints stepping over the line of control. “Either way, it’s a barrier,� explains Divine. “People still walk through the smoke, they just do it thirty feet away. I think there does need to be designated areas because everyone has rights, but I do worry about creating these barriers.�

Schools have found creative ways of encouraging compliance. At the University of Southern Indiana in Evansville, the housing department once provided smoking rooms in residence halls and apartments, but eventually transitioned into a smoke-free department with a thirty foot restriction, due to health concerns and fire hazards. To ease the transition, housing staff added ashtrays and picnic tables thirty feet away and put on residence hall programs to create clay pots for cigarette butts. “We walk a fine line within housing,� said Laurie Berry, director of housing and residence life. “We’d rather you not smoke, but we won’t tell you that you can’t. We treat our students as adults. It’s legal and it’s their choice to make.� However, Berry also recognizes that there must be consequences from the Housing standpoint, and gives out sanctions to violators to clean up cigarette butts outside on Saturday mornings, deemed “Super Saturdays.�

The transition to smoke-free can bring its difficulties. Kenn Marshall, media relations manager of PASSHE, says that with the new Pennsylvania ban, “there was some pushback initially, like there is with any new policy, but the vocal complaints have died down.� The residence halls at California University of Pennsylvania had previously gone smoke-free with ease. “It went fairly well when we banned smoking in the residence halls because we give plenty of notice and we informed, communicated, and educated,� said Shawn Urbine, associate dean of residential facilities. “That’s what is needed when major changes are made. It’s important to have a plan, such as designated smoking areas.�

Combating smoking on campuses goes beyond stricter policies. The colleges and universities must work with students who wish to quit smoking in order to abide by the policies.

Many institutions are working with the American Lung Association’s Smokefree Air 2010 Challenge, a program aimed at making all public places in America smoke-free by 2010. When working with college campuses to create smoking restrictions, the American Lung Association also encourages reliable cessation programs. “Effective tobacco cessation services need to be available to students, faculty and staff on all college and university campuses to help addicted tobacco users quit,� said Tom Carr, Manager of National Policy for the American Lung Association. Marshall agrees that with Pennsylvania’s new state-wide ban, there is a demand from campuses for the resources to quit smoking; “One of the side effects of the new law is an increase in students seeking smoking cessation programs. It’s inconvenient to go off campus to smoke, so students have incentive to quit.�

At Carnegie Mellon in Pittsburgh, where smoking in public was recently banned, students, staff and faculty have formed a committee for their campus called Healthy Campus 2010, part of a national campaign by the American College Health Association. The committee focuses on healthy behaviors in 28 areas, such as fitness and alcohol use, but they have focused their most recent efforts on smoking. At SIUC, a representative from the Housing department sits on the tobacco committee, which created the Livefree Tobacco Initiative in order to educate students on the new smoking policy and provide resources for quitting tobacco.

The housing department at the University of Southern Indiana also puts on programs with the health center surrounding the topic of smoking cessation. Director Berry recognizes the difficultly of creating a smoke-free residence hall and campus, but also sees the benefits. “I think it’s worth it. Not only for the health concerns, but it also cuts down on roommate conflicts,� says Berry, explaining that before this policy was implemented, students would often lie on housing contracts about if they were smokers or not. “Parents would fill it out for them or look over their shoulder. Then it would come up and manifest itself in roommate conflicts.�

At SIUC, Kirchmeier also agrees that there are benefits despite the struggle, but that the greatest result is a happy and healthy population of residents in the halls; “It’s all about the students’ health and well-being.�