The Undergraduate Student Government Senate voted to send the “smoke-free campus” bill back to the Senate University Affairs Committee for further investigation on Tuesday night instead of passing or denying the bill.
Courtney Roake, a member of the Health and Counseling Student Action Committee, said there would not be a big issue of enforcing the tobacco-free policy.
“Governments make rules with the idea that there may not be 100 percent compliance,” Roake said. “Even if we had 50 percent compliance, that’s still 50 percent less exposure [to smoke].”
Campus Health Services Director Dr. Allan Markus said there is a 30 percent increase in the risk for cardiovascular death for those who are exposed to second-hand smoke.
Smoking zones are not an acceptable alternative because they increase health risks for smokers, and the bill is trying to help smokers quit smoking and expose less people to smoking, he said.
“Seventy percent of smokers want to quit,” he said, according to many research studies.
Chad Williams, chair of the University’s Health and Counseling Student Action Committee and proponent of the bill, said people shouldn’t have the right to smoke on campus.
“Smoking is what harms other students,” Williams said.
Alexander Falkenstein, a finance senior, said people should have the right to choose to smoke and the option for smoking zones.
“Smoking zones aren’t a compromise, they’re an ideal,” he said.
Since smokers aren’t forced into smoking zones, the health issues shouldn’t be a problem.
The bill will be reconsidered at a future meeting after the committee reviews it.
Reach the reporter at reweaver@asu.edu
