Trustees nip dorm smoking in the butt

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Tweet Thank you for not smoking.

The MSU Board of Trustees and Residence Halls Association have teamed up to relay this message to students, faculty and staff by banning smoking in all residence halls, Owen Graduate Center and Van Hoosen Hall residential spaces.

Starting August 1, 2008, smoking will be banned within 25 feet of building or apartment entrances.

"It does not tell people they cannot smoke, but it does reduce the locations on campus where smoking is permissible," said Nancy Allen, coordinator of MSU Health4U. "It will make that a smoke-free environment and a more healthy environment for people to work, sleep, eat and play."

The ban hits close to home for Trustee Faylene Owen, a former smoker.

"Smoking is absolutely detrimental to everybody's health — not just the smoker, but everybody around them," Owen said. "I'm 100 percent against smoking. One day, I had to go into the hospital, and I now have four stints. My arteries were clogged, and smoking had everything to do with it."

In 1964, the MSU Board of Trustees implemented Ordinance 29.00, which states "no person shall smoke in any closed space … except specifically designated private residential space." It also states tobacco products may not be sold on campus or used in university owned or leased vehicles.

For Chad Golda, the requirement to smoke outside his Campbell Hall dorm, where it is currently permitted, would be bothersome.

"If it's a nice day, I go outside," the telecommunication, information studies and media sophomore said. "Only in the winter it makes the biggest difference. It's just a convenience thing mostly."

His floormate, Ross Margitza, said growing up in a smoking household has made him immune to the second-hand effects.

"It's common if you're in the dorms to be around people who smoke," the jazz studies sophomore said.

"If they do smoke, they do it outside or they shut the door, but they don't do it in the hallway."

The penalty for violating the nonsmoking ordinance is a civil infraction. The proposed enforcement strategies for the new ban include a three-tier enforcement program that ranges from a meeting with hall staff to a $30 educational session and community service.

The floors in residence halls that permit smoking would no longer be allowed with the ban.

Last year, RHA conducted a survey to gain a better understanding of smoking on campus and how it compares with other universities. The results of the survey prompted the association to propose the bill to the board.

Brendon Mika, RHA's chief financial officer, served as director of health and safety last year during the creation of the bill. He said the survey results showed MSU had less strict on-campus smoking policies than other Big Ten universities.

MSU is the only Big Ten university and one of the few colleges in the state that allows smoking in residence halls.

RHA President Mark Dobson said he supported the bill, but an argument could be made that MSU's policy wasn't a failure on its part so much as an expression of students' freedoms.

"I think that MSU is pretty balanced. I think that in a lot of areas, we're very much a leader," Dobson said. "I made the counterpoint that we were leading in that we still afford students certain rights. Getting smoking off campus is a huge step in the right direction."

Trustee George Perles agreed with Dobson and said the ban is following the trend set by other venues.

"The whole country is leaning that way," he said. "If someone needs to smoke that badly, I think they can make it convenient to go outside for the other people. I don't enjoy being part of taking anybody's rights away, but when health's involved, it kind of justifies it."

Golda chose his room in Campbell this year because smoking is allowed there, but is moving off campus next year.

"It's not a given right," he said of being able to smoke inside his room. "But it's something that people enjoy — like playing loud music."

Staff writer Kristi Jourdan contributed to this report.

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