Smoking

While passing Butler, I always see smokers outside. Or, at least, I can’t remember the last time “always” wasn’t the case.

As my last year at Columbia begins, I’ve been thinking back on the tiny chance encounters I had early on that came to define my time here. The random classmate who, after noticing my interest in our Latin coursework, suggested I check out a major I’d never heard of—linguistics—which is now what I study (and the only thing I talk about). I made my very best friend on the first day of school in Literature Humanities. A fortuitous roll of the registrar’s dice put us in the same Pupin classroom that Tuesday, and now I cannot picture my life without him.

Columbia and its affiliates have made policy modifications to reduce smoking on campus, but how effective are they really?

Resident Advisers will enforce a rule prohibiting students from smoking within 20 feet of residence halls this semester.

Vice President of Student and Administrative Services Scott Wright discussed issues ranging from enforcement of the University's partial smoking ban to alcohol storage at a Columbia College Student Council meeting on Sunday night.

The University Senate banned smoking within 20 feet of buildings on the Morningside Heights campus in December 2010. University Senator Alex Frouman, CC '12—who helped craft that policy—said at the CCSC meeting that Wright had failed to adequately communicate the policy across campus.

Frouman said that Wright "did represent himself to the senate as the person responsible for the ban," and that Wright hadn't responded to his questions about enforcement of the policy since September. Wright responded that he sent an email to the appropriate deans of students about enforcing the policy and that he was not obligated to police smoking outside of academic buildings.

Wright also noted that he hadn't seen a lot of people violating the policy. Some buildings have signs by their doors advertising the 20-foot rule.

"One of the reasons so many people here don't do things is that if you try to do things that make the campus better, people end up attacking you," Wright said. "What I can't do is ease into some role as the only person here who is going to be responsible for taking action on smoking policy."

Additionally, Class of 2013 Representative Alex Jasiulek brought up issues with the University's alcohol use policy. He explained that at many University-sanctioned student events where there is alcohol, all unopened drinks have to be opened and poured down the drain at the end of the night.

Wright said that University Event Management does not oppose allowing students to keep unopened drinks, although he added that finding a space to store the alcohol might be an issue.
"We shouldn't be wasting stuff," Wright said. "We should find a better way to do it. Certainly there's no agenda from a UEM point of view."

Wright also discussed infrastructure spending on the Morningside Heights campus. The University currently spends about $2 million to $3 million per year on infrastructure, but administrators plan to triple this budget next year, while keeping the budget for cosmetic changes, like flooring and lighting repairs, at $4 million per year. He noted that his office is looking into renovating the Carman Hall lounge and the Furnald and John Jay hall floor lounges, as well as improving unfurnished lounges as part of a "capital plan."

Wright also addressed complaints about the narrow spiral staircase in Ferris Booth Commons, saying that the facilities office is planning to study it.

"It's a puzzle when I first saw it. It's a puzzle today," Wright said. "It's a bad idea."

At the end of the meeting, Barry Weinberg, CC '12, emphasized the need for more student space on campus. Wright said he supported more student space, ending the meeting by saying that "anything can be done with enough money."

Most students who attended the Sunday night meeting were CCSC members. CCSC President Aki Terasaki, CC '12, said non-council turnout was not as high as he had hoped, adding that the council hadn't done much publicity for the meeting.

ben.gittelson@columbiaspectator.com

The U.S. surgeon general's recently released report, "The Health Consequences of Smoking," marks the 50th anniversary of the landmark document that definitively linked smoking to lung cancer. We now know that smoking causes disease in nearly all organs of the body, and one out of three cancer deaths is caused by smoking. The surgeon general's report in 1964 set in motion comprehensive public health efforts to address the tobacco epidemic. Smoking rates have fallen, but much more needs to be done.

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.
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For the past few weeks, snow has been a fixture of our campus. Thanks to frigid weather uninterested in leaving, our grounds are still blanketed in snow, despite the best efforts of shovelers and salters.