A heated debate lit up Miami's university senate that, at a 48-4 vote, put out the current smoking policy and sparked a new one.
The new Smoking Regulations Policy Proposal will prohibit all faculty, students and staff 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.
"We have a rule in place right now, but we don't have a formal enforcement policy in place in the residence halls," said provost Jeffrey Herbst.
According to Adolf Haisler, senior associate vice president of finance and business services, the only notable difference in the new policy as opposed to the old one is a written restriction of smoking at least 25 feet away from an academic or administrative building.
The university's old policy on smoking as outlined in the 2006-07 Student Handbook says that smoking is not allowed in university buildings, residence halls or vehicles. In the Office of Residence Life Guide to Residence Hall Living, the policy is extended to say that students must smoke at least 25 feet away from the doors and windows of residence halls. For administrative buildings, these documents do not specify that students must be at certain distance in order to smoke.
Miami will enforce the new policy by posting "No Smoking" signs in appropriate places across campus, moving ash trays at least 25 feet away from all university facilities, promoting assistance available through the university to help individuals stop smoking, and identifying the new policy in Web sites.
Students present at the meeting raised concern that the new policy would be useless unless there were tangible consequences for violating the smoking ban.
"I see absolutely no sense in passing any type of policy or even considering any further (measure) that contains no enforcement mechanism," said graduate student Sarah Martin. "It would be like trying to run a government with no executive."
Two of the four votes against the policy came from students.
In terms of enforcement for this particular policy, all members of the Miami community would be responsible for knowing the policy and directing those who are smoking in nonsmoking areas to locations where smoking is permitted.
Resident adviser and university senate member Anne Towne expressed more optimism about the potential benefits that could arise from the new policy.
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"I think if we make an effort to change the culture, or to encourage everyone to start smoking away from the buildings, then a certain level of enforcement doesn't necessarily need to be implemented at all," Towne said.
Senate members voiced concern over who the new policy administrator will be and whether or not bus shelters will be included in the new policy.
Once these questions are answered and everything is finalized, the new smoking policy will go into effect. Herbst said he believes this will occur in approximately one to two months.
Although there is an increasing movement of nonsmoking campuses across the country, Circleville Bible College is the only college in Ohio to completely ban smoking on its campus.
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