Tobacco completely banned on all campus grounds starting January 1, 2014
by AMANDA COYNE |
Policy includes university-owned tailgate spots, stadium parking lots
Tobacco will be banned from all university grounds as of Jan. 1, 2014, President Harris Pastides announced at an Aug. 9 meeting of USC's board of trustees.
This would include the university-owned tailgating lots at the site of the former State Farmer's Market and parking lots surrounding the Colonial Life Arena and Carolina Stadium.
An email will be sent to all USC students, faculty and staff in September to begin the communication process about the January ban, Pastides said. A tobacco-free summit will take place in October, and ashtrays will be removed from campus in December.
Enforcement policies are not yet clear, but the focus of enforcement efforts will be on encouraging smoking cessation rather than punishing smokers with fines and tickets.
"It will be imperfectly enforced," Pastides said. "It is not about how many people we can catch, but how many behaviors we can change."
Anyone on USC's campus ? whether a student, faculty or staff member or visitor ?is subject to the ban. Officers from USC's Division of Law Enforcement and Safety will be utilized in the ban's enforcement, but Pastides said their role would largely be informing smokers about the policy, asking them to stop and offering information about cessation programs. Pastides said he has not considered what would happen if a smoker refused to put out his or her cigarette, but that the Division of Law Enforcement and Safety is considering that scenario.
Previous ideas floated by Healthy Carolina and Student Government, who have been involved in the Tobacco-Free USC initiative for the past year, included peer enforcement and reporting, specified times during the day when smoking would be allowed and mandatory cessation classes for violators of the policy.
Student input may determine the final version of the enforcement policy, Student Body Vice President Ryan Bailey said.
"The difficulty in enforcing is huge, and the fact that our previous policy was not strictly enforced …I don't know how affective that really is," Bailey said. "If students are really passionate about self-enforcing, that may be how it goes, but it's still up in the air at this point."
Student Government failed to pass any legislation concerning the ban last year; resolutions supporting the ban, against the ban and supporting the ban with designated smoking times all failed in a March vote.
"The solution is so divided, and there really can't be an incredibly viable solution without making our police department a smoking police," said Bailey. "There are lots of other issues on campus they need to focus on."
USC will join 10 other South Carolina colleges and universities who have already banned tobacco use on campus and 1,200 with similar bans nation-wide.
"It's definitely where universities are moving to, a healthy atmosphere and a healthy environment, and that's really where you have to change with the times," Bailey said. "But can you really take away the rights of a student who's 18 to smoke just because of an interest in health principles? The concept is in the spirit of promotion of growth and development, but how much are you sacrificing?"
The issue has been hotly contested by students, and even former Student Body President Kenny Tracy said he could not support a complete ban at the end of his term. Tracy did, however, suggest a "compromise" policy.
Link: http://www.dailygamecock.com/article/2013/08/tobacco-completely-banned-on-all-campus-grounds-starting-january-1-2014
by AMANDA COYNE |
Policy includes university-owned tailgate spots, stadium parking lots
Tobacco will be banned from all university grounds as of Jan. 1, 2014, President Harris Pastides announced at an Aug. 9 meeting of USC's board of trustees.
This would include the university-owned tailgating lots at the site of the former State Farmer's Market and parking lots surrounding the Colonial Life Arena and Carolina Stadium.
An email will be sent to all USC students, faculty and staff in September to begin the communication process about the January ban, Pastides said. A tobacco-free summit will take place in October, and ashtrays will be removed from campus in December.
Enforcement policies are not yet clear, but the focus of enforcement efforts will be on encouraging smoking cessation rather than punishing smokers with fines and tickets.
"It will be imperfectly enforced," Pastides said. "It is not about how many people we can catch, but how many behaviors we can change."
Anyone on USC's campus ? whether a student, faculty or staff member or visitor ?is subject to the ban. Officers from USC's Division of Law Enforcement and Safety will be utilized in the ban's enforcement, but Pastides said their role would largely be informing smokers about the policy, asking them to stop and offering information about cessation programs. Pastides said he has not considered what would happen if a smoker refused to put out his or her cigarette, but that the Division of Law Enforcement and Safety is considering that scenario.
Previous ideas floated by Healthy Carolina and Student Government, who have been involved in the Tobacco-Free USC initiative for the past year, included peer enforcement and reporting, specified times during the day when smoking would be allowed and mandatory cessation classes for violators of the policy.
Student input may determine the final version of the enforcement policy, Student Body Vice President Ryan Bailey said.
"The difficulty in enforcing is huge, and the fact that our previous policy was not strictly enforced …I don't know how affective that really is," Bailey said. "If students are really passionate about self-enforcing, that may be how it goes, but it's still up in the air at this point."
Student Government failed to pass any legislation concerning the ban last year; resolutions supporting the ban, against the ban and supporting the ban with designated smoking times all failed in a March vote.
"The solution is so divided, and there really can't be an incredibly viable solution without making our police department a smoking police," said Bailey. "There are lots of other issues on campus they need to focus on."
USC will join 10 other South Carolina colleges and universities who have already banned tobacco use on campus and 1,200 with similar bans nation-wide.
"It's definitely where universities are moving to, a healthy atmosphere and a healthy environment, and that's really where you have to change with the times," Bailey said. "But can you really take away the rights of a student who's 18 to smoke just because of an interest in health principles? The concept is in the spirit of promotion of growth and development, but how much are you sacrificing?"
The issue has been hotly contested by students, and even former Student Body President Kenny Tracy said he could not support a complete ban at the end of his term. Tracy did, however, suggest a "compromise" policy.
Link: http://www.dailygamecock.com/article/2013/08/tobacco-completely-banned-on-all-campus-grounds-starting-january-1-2014
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