Smoke Free
#5 Smoke-free Campus
Do you support a smoke-free campus, where smoking would only be allowed in designated areas?
The “Vote YES” referendum committee’s platform
Let’s create a cleaner, healthier campus where we can live and learn.
Voting YES will:
• Allow the SFUO to push for a change to the campus smoking policy to something that is clearer, fairer, and strikes better balance between the rights of smokers and non-smokers.
• Create safe, accessible outdoor areas around campus where people would be allowed to smoke.
• Ensure that you no longer have to walk through a cloud of smoke just to get to class.
• Set the areas in full consultation with students and the university community.
• Create an environment where it is easier for smokers to quit smoking.
The reasons are clear:
• The current policy (no smoking within 9 metres of entrances) is not followed or enforced.
• Students deserve an environment free from the dangers of second-hand smoke.
• This method has been very successful at other Canadian universities.
Questions?
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
I’m surprised to see that there hasn’t been any debate on this topic. Frankly, I fully support this initiative! I hope all students who feel strongly about the issue (either way) will be able to get involved in the process so that our campus can be smoke-free without alienating individuals who use tobacco.
Have there been any ‘enforcement’ mechanisms discussed? I expect this is something that will be settled once a strategy for smoke free campus is more developed, but I’d be interested to know what the campaigners had in mind to ensure that whatever is decided upon is actually enforced.
Technically there are already enforcement measures in place. There is a 9 Metre rule that should be enforced by Protection. This referendum, while technically not creating a totally smoke free campus, will try to enforce those set rules. At least that’s what I gather from my discussions and reading.
Does the SFUO or any entity have the legal right to enforce such a regulation? Last I checked, the governments of Ontario and Canada allow smoking so long as it is done 9 meters away from an entrance. The University of Ottawa campus is strictly speaking not private property in the usual sense. Are there going to be smoking cops abound to fine students who light up in the middle of Louis Pasteur? This proposal is rife with problems both in its character and potential enforcement.
And what about non-students who happen to just be walking through campus…???