Enjoy that cigarette on Low Steps now, as campus smoking may soon be more tightly regulated.
After months of consideration and student and faculty feedback, the Columbia University tobacco workgroup has proposed a ban on smoking within the campus gates.
New York laws prohibit smoking within 25 feet of a building.
Scott Wright, vice president for student auxiliary services, said that he was approached by a director from Columbia Health Services who wanted to look into whether or not the smoking regulations were adequate on campus. As a result, Wright proposed developing a workgroup to look into smoking measures.
The on-campus smoking regulations, faculty and Health Services members suggested, may be in for an update, especially as New York law cracks down on smoking in certain outdoor areas. After comparing opinions from people working and living in buildings across campus and those who would be most affected by smoking, the workgroup began to wonder if it would be possible to make Columbia smoke-free within the gates, an idea that the group ran with.
The proposal is to create a “smoke-free core of the Morningside campus, including all areas within University gates,” according to Columbia Student Services. Currently, smoking is banned at Barnard and Teachers College as well as at the Union Theological Seminary. Under the proposal, smoking would be banned from 114th to 116th streets between Amsterdam and Broadway as well as from East Campus closer to Morningside Park.
Columbia College Student Council Vice President of Policy Adil Ahmed, CC ’09, is the student member of the workgroup comprised of representatives from Health Services, Public Safety, and Columbia University Housing and Dining as well as members and directors of the Alice! Health Promotion Program, whose office spearheaded the proposal.
The workgroup solicited feedback from students “who were disturbed,” Ahmed said, by their exposure to campus smoking. People working or living on lower building floors can also be hit particularly hard by secondhand smoke—people at Low Library, for instance, can be exposed to an unusually large amount of smoke from students frequently gathered outside of the building on cigarette breaks. The workgroup collected opinions in ongoing open forum feedback sessions and in online surveys.
But in an informal poll last week, Ahmed said this Sunday at the council meeting, CCSC voted almost unanimously against the proposal, and they passed a resolution in opposition to it in this weekend’s meeting. While the proposal floated around CCSC for several weeks, it failed to gain traction in the council. Many members said they felt it would be too difficult to enforce and could be a misuse of resources. Both Ahmed and Wright have agreed that enforcement could be a problem.
“We don’t have NYPD on campus who would deal with that,” Wright said. “That’s probably two steps beyond where we are right now. My guess is that it would be a bit like how we deal with dogs on campus.”
Still, Wright pointed out that the proposal was just a preliminary look into possible regulation changes. Nobody on the workgroup, he said, had the power to enforce the policy. The feedback will be forwarded to the University administration, and a decision on the proposal is not expected until sometime this summer.
“No one is trying to jam new policies down your throat,” Wright commented at CCSC.
The workgroup noted on the Student Services Web site that new smoking regulations could improve campus facilities by cutting down on litter and fire hazards and that they could cut costs involved in large-scale staff cleanup associated with smoking. The group noted that this proposal is coming at a time of increased regulations—city, state, and federal—on smoking and that it is consistent with the “decrease in number of smokers and increase in community support for more smoke-free zones.”
But implementing new rules on a much larger campus may be difficult. Barnard students noted that even on their small campus, smoking has not been eradicated.
“I guess I assumed that it [Barnard] was not smoke-free,” Becky Davis, BC ’11, said. She gestured to a small area several feet away from the Sulzberger lobby that is a frequent spot for smokers. “No one seems to enforce it, which is fine by me.”
Suzanne Guttman, BC ’12, said she was aware that the campus was smoke-free but also nodded towards the unofficially recognized smoking section on campus.
“I’ve seen the signs and I’ve seen the people walk past it smoking,” she said. “Everyone knows people smoke there [outside Sulzberger lobby] and near Altschul.”
“Maybe there’s less smoking than there would be,” she added. “I definitely don’t think it’s enforced.”
But Ahmed said the CCSC vote against the proposal could be an opportunity for students to further shape suggestions for smoking regulations and allow for more input.
“I think it’ll take time,” he said. “It’s not something that will be implemented in a week.”
To view and voice feedback on the proposal, click here.
news@columbiaspectator.com
Comments
We're looking for comments that are interesting and substantial. If your comments are excessively self-promotional or obnoxious you will be banned from commenting. Consult the comment FAQ and legal terms.