Making Missouri Western smoke-free becomes campus issue

By Todd Fuller

September 17, 2010 1 Comment

If the students at Missouri Western want their campus to become smoke-free then for the time being, they will have to lead the charge to make it happen.

In light of the decision at our Maryville neighbor to implement a no-smoking policy campus wide on August 1, several faculty and staff members were asked to weigh in on the issue.

Lonnie Johnson, director of facilities, thinks that the students will have to push this issue—if it’s going to happen in the near future.

“I think it’s a good thing [Northwest going smoke-free],” Johnson said. “When I got to Western in 1990, taking us to a smoke-free building campus was one of the first things I was involved in, and it’s been that way ever since.”

Johnson said that this issue [smoke-free campus] has come up several times since that occurred, and he believes that the students will have initiate a move to a smoke-free campus to make it happen.

“Administration wouldn’t feel good about just making a decision and forcing it on the students,” Johnson said “They like to get as much student support as they could for something like this.”

Johnson said that the smoking shelters have been discussed in the past, but he feels it’s a better policy to totally eliminate it and just have and end date set.

“I’m an ex-smoker and I always think cold turkey is the best way to go,” Johnson said.

Evan Noynaert, assistant professor of computer science, chaired an Adhoc committee for the faculty senate in 2008 and they discussed the smoking policy then. At the time they looked at the possibility of shelters at an approximate cost of $10,000 per shelter.

“I really don’t think that the shelters are necessary, the idea is that we want to discourage smoking not facilitate it,” Noynaert said.

Noynaert said that the majority of the committee did not want to go to the expense of the shelters, with the likelihood of Western going completely smoke-free in the future.

SGA President Dillon Harp feels “an issue of this magnitude” should come from the students, so that the policy reflects the wishes of the students.

“If student input on this is strong enough, there is no reason why this wouldn’t deserve a place on the ballot come spring time,” Harp said.

Harp feels that designated areas on campus would help to ease the transition to a totally smoke-free campus. Harp feels that shelters, similar to the one near the sand-volley ball court could be built as smoking shelters in the most populated areas.

“With the budget that student government has I think that is an issue that we can address,” Harp said.

Harp feels that if done properly SGA could facilitate this and said that in the future these shelters could be used for other purposes.

Harp thinks this will be something the state will eventually will force colleges and universities to implement as the push to be healthier increases.

“If a petition with 10% of the students signatures on it came forward, I would say that would be enough to put it on a ballot and take it to a vote,” Harp said.