Body Blog: Smoking Bans on Campus

September 12, 2011 12:00 pm     Posted in Back to School, Body, Featured Left  Garnet Henderson g+ page

Thinking about lighting up? At about 530 colleges nationwide, you’ll have to step off campus. Over the past few years, more and more schools have started to implement smoking bans, and 120 campuses have been added to the smoke-free list in the past year alone.


By Garnet Henderson

Smoke-free advocates hail these changes as major advancements for student health. But others aren’t convinced, and smoking bans have become a controversial issue on many college campuses.

Everyone has heard about the dangers of secondhand smoke, and this is one of the major reasons for campus smoking bans. Advocates argue that it isn’t fair for students who choose not to smoke to be exposed to harmful cigarette smoke by other members of their community. But recently, the focus of many schools has turned to eliminating students’ smoking habits entirely.

For example, the University of Kentucky put in place a campus-wide smoking ban in 2009. At the time, the state of Kentucky had one of the highest smoking rates in the country, at 25.6%. The ban was protested by some students in a “smoke-out,” but went into effect despite opposition. And the University of Kentucky says that their program works. In 2008, before the ban went into effect, 33 people enrolled in a program on campus to help them quit smoking.

One year after the policy was enforced, that number rose to 146. UK does not penalize students for smoking. Instead, volunteers simply remind smokers of the ban and ask them to put out their cigarettes. The school also sells nicotine gum and patches to make visiting smokers feel more comfortable.

But opponents to the ban point out that smoking is a personal choice, and say that a university has no right to interfere with students’ personal decisions. Another obvious counter argument is the fact that smoke-free campuses may not stop students from smoking – it may just force them to take their habit elsewhere. Some say that educational programs dealing with the dangers of smoking may be more effective than outright smoking bans. But would students really listen?

My own school, Columbia University, banned smoking within 20 feet of all campus buildings last year. The policy was intensely debated, with many of our University Senators arguing for a full ban, and several others arguing against smoking restrictions of any kind. The 20-foot ban is rarely enforced here, and virtually nothing has changed since the resolution was passed. But our neighbors across the street, Barnard College, implemented a total smoking ban last year. From what I can see, their ban has been effective, as I have not seen a single smoker on Barnard’s campus since the policy went into effect. But the question is: did students actually stop smoking, or do they just smoke out on the street now?

What do you think? Is it fair for a college to ban smoking on campus? Does your college have a smoking ban in place? Do you think it works? Tell us about it in the comments below!

11 Comments on "Body Blog: Smoking Bans on Campus"

  1. Ashley Williams says:
    Tue, 13th Sep 20117:52 am 

    Yes !! you are true.. mere banning of smoking in campus cannot stop the habit of students they will definitely find other go for this!! may be some other places where they can smoke in peace..
    But at least we can reduce the span of smoking during the college hours :)

  2. Baja K says:
    Tue, 13th Sep 20116:49 pm 

    It is tragic that Colleges…centers of learning…centers of science and medicine…accept the claims of the Anti Smoking PR campaign.

    Are there no microscopes or other technologies on campus that can analyze a typical cigarette to see if it even contains tobacco (the ostensible target of outrage and legislation), or if it's only tobacco, or if it contains industrial contaminants that are already known to cause what some prefer to call "smoking-related illnesses"?

    Are there no researchers who might look up info on legal Case History to find that the commonly-used EPA material about harms of "ETS" (environmental tobacco smoke) was thrown out of Federal Court (by anti smoking judge Osteen) as fraudulent? …AND that the EPA has not yet challenged the substance of his determination?

    Are there no political education students (or professors) who can find that the pushers of such smoke bans are invariably economically linked to the parts of the cigarette industry that most want to scapegoat smokers and the public domain tobacco plant for the harms caused by non-tobacco cigarette adulterants?
    (This refers to pesticides, chlorine, paper, ag biz, pharmaceuticals that contribute pesticides and additives, suppliers of cellulose for fake tobacco, suppliers of radioactive phosphate tobacco fertilizers, suppliers of burn accelerants, AND their insurers and investors?

    Are there no students of History that might glance back at the origins of Reefer Madness…the war on that other smokable plant, cannabis…and how that was promoted by pretty much the same pesticide, chlorine, industrial cartel that now pushes what might be called "Tobacco Madness"?

    References galore at "Fauxbacco" http://fauxbacco.blogspot.com

  3. Dr. J says:
    Fri, 16th Sep 20118:54 am 

    Cigarette smoke is pure poison! Allowing it to be done on campus is prehistoric!

  4. Kathryn says:
    Mon, 19th Sep 20116:32 pm 

    I go to SUNY Buffalo and we've also become a "smoke free" cxampus. We've had the protests and the smokeouts. Sometimes the school will have nursing or medical students walk around asking people to put out their cigarettes. My roommate is a smoker and she gives people serious attitude on campus when they ask her to put it out. Although I am not a smoker, I do think it's a bit much to make a campus of over 30,000 students completely smoke free. They should make designated smoking areas or something, but declaring the campus entirely smoke free is just unrealistic and unfair.

  5. Luca says:
    Tue, 24th Apr 20123:29 am 

    She has a nicotine adoitcidn. I know in your mind, asking someone you love to stop poisoning themselves makes sense to you and this person may even want to quit but because they are addicted to the cigarettes, consern for their health takes a back seat to getting that next fix.Its unfortunate that people choose to use products that everybody knows will kill them one day. But its their choice and their responsibility. You can certainly voice you concerns to this person. Just try to understand that they are not going to quit because you ask them to. This person needs to want to quit and they need to get help to quit. Both of these steps are up to this person, not you. Making demands or pointing fingers will only make things worse.Now if you know this person actually does want to quit, maybe they just don’t know to get the help to do so. So maybe do some digging online and look up people in your area who specialize in treating adoitcidns, look into things like the patch or nicorette that can help make quiting easier and then give this information to this person. Understand, once you’ve done all you can to get this person help, the ball is in their court and its up to them to get help and they need to take responsibility for their actions.

  6. greensmartliving says:
    Fri, 27th Jul 20127:16 am 

    As smoking bad for health but ban never stop smoker from smoking. No smoking zone like class rooms, library, corridor, trains, buses need to be cleaned & disciplined.

  7. Carolyn C. Curran says:
    Thu, 25th Apr 20131:21 am 

    I fully support the smoking ban on the campus. This will encourage student not to form an inclination towards smoking when stressed.

  8. Doug says:
    Fri, 10th May 20135:25 pm 

    constantly i used to read smaller content which also clear their motive, and that is also

    happening with this paragraph which I am reading now.

    my site; quit smoking fags

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