Rachel Ferchak
For The Post
Ohio University's Student Senate is researching the benefits of a smoke-free campus.
This week, the senate sent e-mails to several peer institutions, including Miami University, asking about their campus smoking policies and how they enforce them, said Bryan Hoynacke, director of research for Student Senate.
Sarah Kostiha, director of university relations for Student Senate, brought about the idea for a smoke-free campus and chairs the committee. It has made unsuccessful attempts in the past to research a smoke-free campus, Kostiha said.
It's a problem that many of my constituents have been complaining about
said Lauren Howard, Student Senate chief of staff, who is helping with the effort. She cited smoking directly outside class buildings as a common complaint.
Student Senate is considering holding focus groups to get more student feedback on the matter, Howard said.
Hoynacke said he plans to start sending out surveys for student feedback after hearing from other universities.
Smokers have rights and non-smokers have rights. It's about what (the students) want Kostiha said. I'm doing this for the students.
Institutions, such as Kent State University, have policies designating certain building entrances for smokers to use, while Miami is currently smoke-free, said Terry Koons, associate director of Health Promotion.
Prior to establishing a smoke-free policy, Miami had instituted a 25-foot, smoke-free boundary around buildings enforced by fines, Howard said. Miami transitioned to a smoke-free campus in the fall.
OU's student health services currently enforces no official restrictions on smoking, other than those required under the state Smoke-Free Workplace Act, Koons said.
Howard said she expects to find students at other universities complain about smoking in addition to trouble with smokers rebelling against the rules and ideas of the administration.
We're in really preliminary stages right now said Hoynacke, adding the surveys would determine if students even want restrictions on smoking. Student Senate has yet to conduct any major research on overall student opinions about the issue.
I'm not saying this is going to take effect tomorrow; I'm not saying it's going to take effect next year
Howard said.
Hoynacke said establishing a campus-wide smoking ban is a complicated process and no decisions will be made any time soon.
Involving ourselves in (the process) is a good thing from a health perspective
but it's something that's going to take a lot of time
Hoynacke said.
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