Ohio University’s tobacco-free initiative bans the use of all tobacco products, but smoking was once a favorite pastime for OU faculty, staff and students.
Despite a recent smoking ban, Ohio University was once a place where students could stumble across a cigarette-themed party or light up in Alden Library.
OU’s tobacco-free initiative bans the use of tobacco products campus-wide, but a rich history stemmed in smoking suggests that tobacco use hasn’t always been taboo.
The ban has received mixed reviews since its implementation Aug. 1. Some long-time smokers claim that quitting won’t be easy, proof that old habits die hard.
“Where are those of us hopeless smokers and those who choose to smoke going to end up?” Pete Wuscher, a 50-year-old Athens resident, said in a previous Post report. Wuscher protested the ban by standing on a sandbar in the Hocking River with a sign that read “OK to smoke here?”
Modern, sleek and sophisticated might not be the words an OU student would associate with smoking given the recent climate on campus, but they were the chosen adjectives of students in 1941 describing the glamour of cigarette-themed parties.
Groups hosted cigarette parties such as Zeta Tau Alpha’s Cigarette Hop of 1941, which boasted large replicas of cigarette packages, matching programs and men and women who sold smokes to party guests.
Now, students are more likely to come across a tobacco cessation course than a cigarette-themed party. OU employees will have the opportunity to attend a tobacco cessation course between 12 p.m. and 1 p.m. Wednesday in Baker Center.
In the ’80s, the use of tobacco products were embraced in all campus buildings.
The 1982 Athena yearbook described the third floor of Alden Library as a space with “comfortable cushions and a homey atmosphere” that provided “a good place for students to relax with a cigarette, put their feet up and rest their eyes.”
Cigarette machines, not unlike the snack and soda vending machines that are standard today, were found throughout campus. Patrons of such machines could join their resident assistant for a smoke break in the hallway.
A Post story from 1966 entitled “Smoking dangerous? So what? Everybody has to die sometime,” detailed the opinion of some students on campus who ignored the warnings on cigarette machines to get their tobacco fix.
In contrast, smoking was prohibited within 25 feet of residence halls in recent years and within 10 feet of other university buildings.
Dining halls were another tobacco-friendly venue and often served as a place “to catch up on private thoughts with a cup of coffee and a cigarette,” according to the 1984 Athena.
{{tncms-asset app="editorial" id="5893e5c4-4cf9-11e5-82d0-f7b8eba012fb"}}
Reasons for smoking varied in the '60s, ranging from the simple goal of fitting in with other students, to relaxing during study sessions and even the pure love of blowing smoke rings, according to a previous Post report.
Today, reasons for supporting the smoking ban are also diverse and range from personal preference to the obvious negative effects on the environment and public health.
“No one likes to see cigarettes laying (on the ground) and smell the smoke,” Jayme Beal, a student studying health administration, said in a previous Post report. “A lot more people don’t smoke than do smoke.”
Campus culture would indicate students seem to be more conscious of the potential dangers of tobacco use than in recent decades, and a decline in cigarette advertisements could be one reason why.
Ads for tobacco products once littered newspaper and magazine publications, and often appeared on the back cover of The Green Goat, a student-run publication from the early 1900s. A university football program from the 1930s featured a large ad for Camel’s cigarettes and claimed airplane pilots that flew the night air-mail smoked steadily to achieve their “healthy nerves.”
Even campus administrators used tobacco products consistently, perhaps none more famously than former university President Claude R. Sowle, namesake of one of OU’s newest residence halls. Sowle was rarely seen without his cigar, and a cartoon of the president smoking graced the first page of the 1970 yearbook.
President Roderick McDavis announced his excitement for the tobacco-free initiative earlier this year in a video posted to the initiative’s website April 27.
“I am not going to assume that no one is ever going to smoke on Ohio University grounds ever again after Aug. 1,” Catherine Lee, coordinator of OU’s Tobacco-Free Campus initiative, said in a previous Post report. “Our hope is that we will see a decrease in smoking.”
@mayganbeeler
mb076912@ohio.edu
