Smoking ban opposed by smokers, non-smokers still set for September

On Sept. 1 of this year, Oregon State University will implement a smoke-free policy for the OSU Corvallis campus which will extend from Monroe Avenue to Western Boulevard, and from 15th Street to well beyond 35th.

No one — students, visitors or faculty — will be allowed to smoke within the designated areas.

Last school year, while the 13-member Smoke-Free Task Force gathered preliminary information to present to OSU President Ed Ray, the Associated Students of Oregon State University passed the "Students' Freedom Act," a resolution that stood firmly against any type of smoke-free campus, and supported current administrative policy. Shortly after this strong student statement, the decision was made to implement the ban in the fall of 2012.

Director of the Smoke-Free Initiative Stacey Edwards said that "before last year's ASOSU we had a previous administration that supported the policy." But the idea of a smoke-free campus is much older than that.

"[The] on-campus smoking ban at OSU started as a senior project," said Joe Taylor, ASOSU Director of Campus Affairs at the time. Taylor further stated that after the initial idea was shot down, its originator "went on to pursue it as [their] graduate project."

A "Fresh Air Survey" was conducted in 2008, to which 623 people responded, and was comprised of 76.5 percent student answers. This survey was used as the main base of information for the Smoke-Free Task Force for the next two years. It did not address such questions as "What is the percentage of faculty and staff who smoke on campus?"

In 2010 Taylor organized and sent out a survey on behalf of ASOSU which received 4,530 student responses, which Taylor said, "was more responses than students who voted in the last student election."

The survey found that a quarter of the responding students had recently used tobacco, and that there were a considerable portion of non-smokers who also opposed a smoke-free campus.

Ignoring the fact that more students polled favored the construction of designated smoking areas rather than a campus-wide ban, the Smoke-Free Task Force presented certain parts of the survey in several meetings, and the date was set.

"The first year we're going to emphasize education," Edwards said. "It's going to take some time."

The OSU administration is going to put up signs at what will be restricted areas, and will provide information about the new policy to university applicants.

Edwards said that after "initial infrastructure costs," the policy will not require much money to uphold, and pointed out that the university will no longer have to spend money furnishing the on-campus smoking urns. "To be honest, I see it coming out as equal, or less," she said.

As far as punitive measures are concerned, Edwards said that the plan will be enforced "just like any other policy…public safety will be in charge of enforcing that."

The smoke-free policy is an administrative rule, not a law, and will not be enforced by Oregon State police.

Though there will be no fines for violators, Edwards said that "if [violations] are egregious enough, [students] can be suspended."

When asked what the impact of a smoke-free campus will mean to international students, Edwards said, "That was a concern that came up."

The administration has looked at the statistics from other universities with smoke-free campuses, and found that "there was no drop in enrollment," Edwards said. "It doesn't affect their attendance rates."

Though the numbers don't decrease, that doesn't account for a possible student demographic shift, which would not appear in strictly numeric comparisons.

When first contacted the International Students of Oregon State University, referred all questions to International Student Services.

There seems to be lack of a coherent message from  the departments representing OSU international students.

When reached International Student Services  commented that ISOSU might have a better idea of student feedback.

With the policy to take effect later this year, there are still some minor details still not worked out. Taylor said, "It's now a bigger question of who gets involved to decide how it will pan out."

Evan Anderson, staff reporter

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