Board of Trustees to vote on tobacco ban
Updated to reflect board of trustees vote.
Kurt Oberreither
-News Editor-
Before spring 2009, students, faculty and staff could find smoking receptacles outside building entrances at STLCC-Meramec. This semester, signs have been posted at doorways across the district: “No smoking. Violators will be subject to fines,” they read.
On Jan. 26, the Board of Trustees voted to approve the revised board policy that allows violators of the district-wide tobacco ban to be subject to a $15 fine and other disciplinary action.
The use of tobacco products is prohibited anywhere on campus grounds, and campus police will issue citations to violators.
This is the closest the district has come to concretely enforcing the ban in the “Tobacco-free for you and me” saga.
“It certainly will enhance our ability to get compliance,” Campus Police Chief Paul Banta said. “Because if there’s something to back up the fact that we don’t want people smoking on campus, that’s going to compel the people who don’t cooperate just because it’s the right thing to do.”
According to Meramec President George Wasson, faculty and staff who are caught will be given a verbal warning on their first offense and given a written warning on their second. College policy dictates that employees of the college can face disciplinary action up to termination. Wasson said they will be fined every time.
“I think it will be difficult to transition to the new rule,” Banta said. “Once people get used to it, I think we’ll be fine. It’s just going to be an adjustment period like anything else that changes; it always takes some time.”
In fall 2008, former chair of the Wellness Committee Margaret Hvatum conducted a survey of faculty, staff and students to gauge opinion on smoking on campus. After an “overwhelming” amount of participants voted that smoking should at least be restricted, the results were presented to the Student Government Association (SGA), the Meramec Academic Governance Council (MAGC) and the Meramec Institutional Affairs Council (MIAC). They reached a consensus and the Campus Leadership Team approved the tobacco-free initiative.
The rule was enforced in fall 2009. However, the rule was not official college policy and therefore a fine could not be enforced. The ban and fine must be universal at all campuses – excluding Wildwood, which has maintained a green, smoke-free environment since its inception. The ban was then lifted.
“You can’t just tell people to do something without consequence,” said Addison Brown, vice president of Student Governance Council. “If the people don’t govern themselves, then they have to be governed.”
In the following fall of 2010, the “ban” was lifted, but the tobacco ban was back the next semester after it became board policy.
He said the main focus right now is informing students of the possibility of a fine and disciplinary action.
There may be an increase to the police force after the board decision, according to Banta.
“I know that smokers find it difficult not to smoke whenever they want,” Hvatum said. “I hope they realize that by not smoking they might be saving lives – not just theirs but other people’s lives.”
Meramec is hosting free smoking cessation sessions in February. A quit smoking informational session will be held Monday, Jan. 30 at 2 p.m. in room 200 of the Student Center. The program, Freedom From Smoking, consists of eight sessions. For more information, contact the Campus Life Office, (314) 984-7642.
