Policy on smoking in effect today

The halos of smoke that normally surround the entrances to buildings on campus may be noticeably absent today, as a new smoking policy takes effect.\nIU-Bloomington Chancellor Sharon Brehm approved an amendment to the campus smoking policy which now prohibits smoking within 30 feet of all campus buildings, including dorms.\nBrehm said she had the idea of changing the 1993 smoking policy ever since she arrived at IU two years ago.\n"Ever since I've been here, there have been a lot of people complaining to me about smoking on campus," she said. "People tell me about how they walk out after classes and have to wave away all this smoke."\nIn June, Brehm met with Vice Chancellor and Dean of Students Richard McKaig and Associate Vice President Daniel Rives to create a task force made up of students, faculty, staff and administrators to review the current policy which only bans smoking inside of University-owned buildings and vehicles and decide if changes would be necessary.\nThe task force was made up of 15 members: 10 faculty or staff members and five students.\nIU Student Association President Casey Cox, one of the members of the task force, said he tried to keep student interests in mind when he worked on the policy evaluation.\n"I went into the meeting a little pessimistic," Cox said. "I never am big about establishing a new policy. I think there are too many regulations for students. But when I got there, I thought it was a really good compromise that most students would agree with."\nRives said there was a fair representation of all groups on campus and even some smokers represented in the group.\n"People in the group could understand where smokers were coming from," Rives said.\nEven before the amendment was passed, some students spoke up against it. Still, Brehm said she thinks the majority of the campus will appreciate it.\n"I don't think it's extreme and unnecessary," she said. "I think it is very reasonable and necessary. There is no way to know how people will react to the policy, but I think a lot of people will really like it."\nOne of the major problems that many students said they see in the policy is an inability to enforce it. \nIU Bookstore employee Herv'e Pierson said he doesn't mind the policy, but thinks most students will simply ignore it.\n"There is nothing they can do," he said as he lit up a cigarette outside of the Indiana Memorial Union. "If people want to smoke, they're going to do it."\nSophomore John Wilson Glennon said he thinks the enforcement policy will cause problems on campus.\n"So, there's a rule that has no set punishment," he said. "Are they going to give out fines? Arrest you? Expel you? It's stupid enough to have a rule like this, but to have no set punishment basically gives any officer the ability to arbitrarily punish someone. \nBrehm said enforcement will not be difficult and people will follow it without being reprimanded too seriously.\n"When we put the 1993 policy into effect, there were very few problems," she said. "There were people who didn't follow the rules, but we just asked them to take it somewhere else and they did."\nMcKaig said enforcement will be pretty lenient, especially during the first 60 days, which will serve as a transition period.\n"Nobody is going to get out a tape-measure and say, 'I'm sorry you're 29 feet and 8 inches'," he said.\nAnother problem students find with the policy is that it not only bans smoking right outside classes, but outside the dorms as well. With smoking banned in most dorms already and with dorms built as close together as they are, students will have fewer options when it comes to where to light up.\nMcKaig said he acknowledges that students may have to run across busy streets and survive bad weather, but he thinks there will be a place for them to smoke.\n"It will take a while, but students will naturally find a new place to smoke," he said. "Whether it's a picnic table or another spot, the smokers will find somewhere else."\nIt is still unclear whether dorms will really crack down on the 30-foot rule. McKaig said residence halls will come up with their own policies regarding what is an acceptable place to smoke.\nCox said he agrees with the new policy, but is wary of further restrictions.\n"I really wouldn't agree with a ban on smoking for the entire campus," he said. "We can't get that strict."\nBrehm said the policy isn't out to punish smokers on campus. She said it just seems like the fairest compromise.\n"I'm an ex-smoker myself and so I know how you feel," she said. "I know how hard it is to quit, but I think it is a good policy. There are a lot of people who have complained about second-hand smoke on campus and there are a lot of studies on second-hand smoke and I think it will really benefit the campus."\nStill, it is yet to be seen whether officials will truly enforce the ban, or whether they're just blowing smoke.\n"The only way to enforce such a ban on a widespread level would be a written, enforceable punishment," Glennon said. "Whether it's a $10 fine or a month in jail, there has to be something, or else we're going to see a lot of, 'Excuse me, sir, could you please move? Thanks.' Cops are there to enforce laws, not to ask me to be courteous."\n-- Contact Campus editor Adam Aasen at aaasen@indiana.edu.