Looking toward Thursday; the day the Smoke Free Workplace Act will be implemented to prohibit smoking in all restaurants, bars, public places and workplaces in Ohio; an even stronger anti-smoking suggestion was made at Miami's university senate meeting Monday.
The proposition would make Miami University an entirely smoke-free campus.
"We just thought this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to decide whether or not this campus would be smoke-free," said Robin Parker, Miami's general counsel, who introduced the idea at the university senate meeting.
The Smoke Free Workplace Act was passed on statewide ballots as Issue 5 last month and as of Friday, all on-campus ashtrays will be removed and signs with the phone number for the state health department will be posed on Miami's campus so that violations of the law can be reported.
This law complement's Miami's already established smoking policy, passed Sept. 25, which prohibits all faculty, staff and students from smoking within 25 feet of all university facilities, including buildings, indoor and outdoor athletic
facilities, indoor and outdoor theaters, bridges, enclosed or sheltered walkways, residence halls and parking garages.
"Come Friday, we intend to be as much in compliance with the law as possible," Parker said.
Although the Smoke Free Workplace Act doesn't directly call for removal of ashtrays, it requires Miami to ensure that smoke doesn't enter buildings through entryways, windows or ventilation systems.
"If we move ashtrays 25 feet away from all buildings, people are still going to be subject to involuntary smoke," Parker said, raising concerns about Miami's existing smoking policy complying with the Smoke Free Workplace Act.
In addition, the means of enforcing the new Smoke Free Workplace Act remain ambiguous, according to Parker. She thinks the state may propose that each county's health departments enforce the policy.
As the law is now, the first violation has a written warning. The second violation is a maximum $100 fine for the public place where the violation occurred with an additional $100 fine to the person who committed the violation. Therefore, the total combined fines could amount to $200.
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Discussion about a final smoking policy at Miami will take place in the near future, according to Parker. University senate is also to create recommendations regarding the implementation of the new law.
Parker also said she'd like groups such as the Classified Personnel Advisory Committee (CPAC), Unclassified Personnel Advisory Committee (UPAC), university senate, and as many others as possible to have discussions about what Miami's policy should be in light of the new law.
She went on to say that she thinks Miami has two options: designate smoking areas or become a smoke-free university.
"I think we have to talk, we have to figure out what our preference is, and if we're going to go smoke-free, then we have to figure out a timetable," Parker said.
Members of university senate discussed issues concerning the additional considerations.
"I think it's important to note that if we were to become a smoke-free campus, we'd provide additional help for faculty who smoke," said Provost Jeffrey Herbst said. "Because students don't have the same health insurance as faculty, and they're usually covered under their parents, that's a different issue that would need to be discussed."
Parker said that designating smoking areas could become quite complicated.
"If we have designated smoking areas, we'll never have enough designated smoking areas to satisfy everyone," Parker said.
Junior William McGregor joked that Miami should think about designating smoking areas on roofs.
Other campuses are facing similar dilemmas with the smoking ban. According to philosophy professor Richard Momeyer, Youngstown State introduced a program on Monday that excludes parking lots from designated smoke-free areas. The Ohio State University, University of Cincinnati and Akron University haven't done anything yet, but they're looking into their policies as well.
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