Possible smoking ban sparks campus controversy

King County's Tobacco Prevention Program has met with members of the Associated Students of Seattle University (ASSU) to discuss the possibility of making Seattle U a smoke free campus.

The Tobacco Prevention Program, run by King County's Public Health department, aims to prevent smoking among Washington's youth. The program works with local businesses, the King County Board of Health, schools and the public to reduce minors' access to tobacco and to help spread tobacco education programs.

Currently, smoking is banned inside all of Seattle U's facilities and residence halls. In order to reduce the chances that students, faculty and staff members will experience second hand smoke, smoking within 50 feet of the entrance to any university facility is also prohibited. Students, faculty and staff may smoke at designated areas, such as the southwest corner of Sullivan Hall.

ASSU has no immediate plans to make Seattle U a smoke free campus, although it will work to re-examine and better enforce the university's current smoking policies.

"It would be hard to implement [a smoking ban] on a campus like this," said ASSU president Kevin Eggers. "And if it ever was going to be a smoke free campus, it would be a little while off in the future because we would have to implement a stage by stage thing."

process."

No statistics exist that reveal how many Seattle U students, faculty and staff members smoke. In the event that the university ever decided to ban smoking on campus, that information would be essential.

"We don't know how many students smoke on campus or how many use smokeless tobacco products, that sort of thing," Eggers said. "We need to get our facts straight first if it's going to be a feasible goal."

Any movement to implement a campus wide smoking ban would almost certainly be met with resistance from smokers belonging to the Seattle U community.

"Smoking is a personal choice," said sophomore pre-major and smoker Brian Yang. Still, Yang realizes that not everyone approves of the personal choice to smoke. He added, "I feel like smoking is frowned upon by students in Washington."

A study published by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in November 2009 estimates that 21.4 percent of adults between the ages of 18 and 24 currently smoke. The Tobacco Prevention Program estimates that about 17.8 percent of legal adults in Washington smoke, a number that differs from one published by the CDC in 2008, which estimates only about 15.7 percent of legal adults in Washington smoke.

These numbers do not take into account the use of smokeless tobacco products such as chewing tobacco.

ASSU's current agenda is to eliminate the chance that non-smoking students, faculty and staff members will experience second hand smoke while ensuring that students, faculty and staff members who choose to smoke have the liberty to do so on campus. ASSU would also like to work to better educate the student body about Seattle U's official smoking policies.

If Seattle U ever chose to become a smoke free campus then ASSU would remain involved in the process, but university departments like the department of Public Safety and department of transportation would most likely take the lead.

Sam may be reached at skettering@su-spectator.com