Tobacco Free Ohio State in August 2013?

Students received an email on March 8^th, 2013 from President Gordon Gee regarding the future implementation of a Tobacco Free Ohio State policy. Talks of this policy began back in autumn semester of 2012, with most of the received feedback about the proposal supporting the idea of a tobacco free campus. If implemented, the policy will come into effect on August 1, 2013.

Although much needs to happen before Ohio State becomes a tobacco free campus, it seems like a lot is being done to ensure this idealistic policy becomes a reality.

Current policy

The current policy, issued in 1987 and revised as of 2006, is a non-smoking policy. Smoking is not allowed inside university buildings or vehicles; smokers can, however, smoke outside in designated areas and 25 feet away from buildings. They also have to refrain from smoking in places like the stadium, concession areas, and other areas considered tobacco-free zones. You can read the policy in its entirety here:

http://hr.osu.edu/policy/policy720.pdf

Drafted revised policy

The new policy, which would come into effect August 1, 2013, stresses a tobacco free Ohio State. This means that not only cigarettes, but also “electronic cigarettes, cigars and cigarillos, hookah smoked products, pipes, and oral tobacco (spit and spitless, smokeless, chew, snuff),” as well as “any product intended to mimic tobacco products or contain tobacco flavoring” would be prohibited (Tobacco Free Ohio State draft). This policy exclaims that OSU would offer tobacco cessation assistance to students, faculty, and staff desiring to overcome tobacco addiction. Read the entire draft here:

http://hr.osu.edu/TobaccoFree/policy720DraftForComment2013-03-08.pdf

The website

Both of the above policy files are found on this website: http://hr.osu.edu/tobaccofree/index.aspx.

Also found here are:

-A timeline for the hopeful implementation of this policy

-Tobacco cessation resources

-A link to share your feedback

-A communication archive

One of the resources on the website that I found helpful was a white paper called The High Cost of Tobacco: Tobacco Free at Ohio State. This was published on September 20, 2012 and was written by the Tobacco Use Work Group, a group comprised of faculty, staff, and students. I found the following definitions helpful in discerning exactly what Ohio State’s policy would be:

100 percent smoke-free campus—Prohibits smoking on all university grounds, buildings, events within the university, and in university owned, rented, or leased vehicles.

 100 percent tobacco-free campus—Prohibits use, distribution, sale, and advertisement of tobacco-products, without exception, across all university-owned property, buildings, or vehicles. Sponsorship and donations are also prohibited.

OSU would be aiming for the second definition for the revised policy.

My thoughts

Although I support this new policy, my concerns come with the enforcement of it. Even now as I leave the Science and Engineering Library (SEL), I find myself walking into smoke clouds from students who choose to avoid the huge “smoking prohibited within 25 feet of this building” sign. At least these students have the choice to smoke elsewhere on campus; eventually they may not have that option. Also, upon reading the new drafted policy, it seems the students, staff, and faculty are called upon to sort of hold each other accountable. This sounds great ideally — everyone sort of policing the grounds — but how many people would make the effort to speak up to those breaking the rules?

Not only will this policy affect smoking, but it will also affect the use, selling, and distribution of ALL tobacco products (see the definition above). While I am a nonsmoker, I wonder how tobacco users will take this news. I am interested to see how Ohio State enforces this policy; will the students strike back or simply adjust? Maybe it is really no big deal? While I have some initial concerns about the policy, I know that OSU has the potential to become tobacco free, and I support this new draft.

What do you think? Does this infringe upon student, staff, and faculty rights, or do you support this new and upcoming policy?