The decision to plan for and institute a campus-wide smoking ban has been a long process, and at this point, whether or not students support a campus-wide smoking ban is now irrelevant. The smoking ban will be instituted.
The Missouri Students Association passed a resolution Wednesday in support of moving the beginning of the campus-wide smoking band to an earlier date, which is necessary to boost the effectiveness of the ban.
There are designated smoking areas on campus, but they are not well-marked. Most students are unaware of where students can or cannot smoke, and thus we’re stuck in a gray area. Smoking cannot be relegated to certain areas, and non-smokers do not know how to avoid smoking areas if they wish to do so. Meanwhile, MU has little power to enforce the ban when it hasn’t taken effect yet. Moving the ban to an earlier date gets us past this awkward transition stage, but it’s only the first step if the smoke-free campaign is to be successful.
The campus-wide ban requires thorough promotion, enforcement and sustainment to ensure it reaches its goal of creating a smoke-free campus.
The intended goals of the campus-wide ban should be considered long-term. Just because a ban is in place doesn’t mean smoking on campus will immediately subside, though we can hope that will be the effect. The ban should intend to create enough awareness of the smoke-free policy to create a new mindset and culture on campus, beginning with incoming freshmen. If subsequent classes of incoming freshmen accept the fact our campus is smoke-free and abide by it from day one, eventually every MU student will live their collegiate careers conducting themselves according to the smoking ban; the question of whether or not anyone is allowed to smoke on campus will no longer be an issue.
Positive aspects of the smoking ban need to be highly advertised, and students should be consistently encouraged to choose not to smoke on campus. The ban needs to become a daily part of student life. We need to see posters and signs and hear university officials talk about the ban’s importance. Only then will it become commonplace enough in the MU community.
Ideally, the embedding of a smoking ban in MU campus culture will make the necessity of a specific unit of people devoted to enforcing the smoking ban obsolete, and individuals will enforce the ban on their own. Regardless, university officials should examine similar programs in other similar institutions and copy successful enforcement strategies. The University of Kansas has a campus-wide smoking ban, and if Kansas can be smoke-free, so can we.
As stated earlier, the goals of the campus smoking ban will not realistically be achieved for some time. Students who have been long-time smokers will not be able to quit or curb the habit as necessary to abide by the ban just because they are told to do so. MU must continue to implement programs to help willing students stop smoking, and provide alternatives like nicotine gum for those smokers suffering from addiction.
Ideally, no student fees should be used to implement this policy. Funding alternatives such as grants like those The Wellness Resource Center applies for should continue.
Although it might not be entirely popular, the campus-wide smoking ban is a hopeful act intended to create a healthier environment for the future. It will only be effective if it’s given as much effort as possible.