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Like bars and restaurants in Minnesota, the Winona campus will become smoke-free in the 2008-09 school year. The university announced Monday it plans to ban the use of tobacco products on its campus starting Jan. 12. The ban will prohibit smoking in all WSU public places and athletic fields at both its central and west Winona campuses.
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Corey Follmer, 18, smokes outside Phelps Hall on Thursday in Winona. Earlier this year, Winona State students voted overwhelmingly to make the Winona campus a smoke free one. The faculty also supported the measure, but nothing has been done yet. It is expected to be approved by the president and take affect in January. The move is part of a trend of banning tobacco at other campuses throughout the state and country. (Photo by Paul Solberg/Winona Daily News) |
Current WSU policy, enacted in 2001, prohibits smoking in university buildings, privately owned university dorms, university vehicles and within 25 feet of the entrance ways of WSU buildings. The policy was enacted with the intention of eventually making the university entirely smoke-free, according to explanatory language in a draft proposal of the smoking ban.
Student-driven initiative
Two surveys at WSU taken last school year suggested a change was in the air regarding attitudes about smoking. In October, the WSU Wellness Committee conducted an online survey, and almost 75 percent of the 3,000 respondents supported a ban.
In April, students against tobacco use completed a petition drive to hold a referendum on a campuswide smoking ban. Voters again said loud and clear they wanted the ban.
A draft proposal to implement the ban campuswide had sat on WSU president Judith Ramaley’s desk since last fall, waiting for a clear course of action before it would be put into place.
That course came Monday, when Ramaley presented amendments to university policy to the Faculty Senate, which approved the measures. Now, an implementation group will be formed to study the ins and outs of a ban.
“We want to make sure we touch all bases,” Andrea Mikkelsen, university director of public information, said.
How to implement a ban, how to enforce it and how bans at other universities have worked so far are some of the questions the implementation group will look at, she said.
Enforcement is a concern. Students who violate the current 25-foot rule are referred for university discipline, but WSU’s director of security, Don Walski, said that rarely occurs.
“We watch it, but I don’t think we’ve ever referred anyone for discipline for it,” he said.
Even when security is tipped off that someone is breaking the rules, it’s almost impossible to catch them.
“By the time someone gets there, they are already gone,” he said.
Caitlin Stene, a student senate member, said concerns that the current policy isn’t enforced led to the senate’s endorsement of designated smoking areas as a compromise.
“If they can’t enforce the current policy, how is security going to enforce the complete ban?” Stene said.
But the senate changed its position after students voted, and now endorses the full ban.
Changing culture
Though hard to enforce, one of the biggest effects of an official smoking ban may be psychological.
At Minnesota State University-Moorhead, where smoking was banned in January, a culture of nonsmoking has developed, said Carol Grimm, director of Health and Wellness.
“I think people are getting used to the no-smoking thing,” Grimm said.
And it seems the best enforcement may be from peers.
“I’m sure there are still people smoking on campus, but people are calling each other on it more,” Grimm said.
Walski’s Moorhead counterpart, Michael Parks, said the ban at his school isn’t meant to be punitive. If someone is seen smoking, a friendly reminder tends to work. Most people are apologetic and put out their cigarettes when asked, he said, and so far only a handful has been referred for discipline.
“Of course, we always have students who believe it’s not fair,” Parks said.
Working toward fair enforcement
The largest problem at Moorhead has been students and faculty moving to the street, public sidewalks and neighboring yards to light up, a concern Parks and Grimm said the university is addressing.
Because WSU is situated in the middle of Winona and many of its surrounding sidewalks are public spaces, enforcing a ban on campus and against people not affiliated with the school could get tricky.
“There’s a question about ‘How do we enforce it there?’” Walski said.
Kelli McClintick, health educator at WSU, said the implementation group will work on those issues, and also talk to neighbors about what their concerns are.
“They’ll let us know what all the reservations are in the community,” she said.
Nolan Rosenkrans may be reached at (507) 453-3519 or nolan.rosenkrans@lee.net.
