Faculty, students and staff who smoke on campus face possible restrictions and enforcement – ranging from the increased prohibition of smoking near building entrances to the possibility of a smoke-free campus – from two Student Government Association senators.
‘(Hotel and Restaurant Management Sen. Dennis) Ha is working on a smoke-free campus. I’m trying to get UH police to be stricter on smoking around buildings,’ Business Sen. Luis Rodriguez said. ‘I’ve been wanting to work on (legislation that) would have the UH police department give more citations.’
Ha said he wants to make UH a smoke-free campus, but this will take some time.
‘It’s not the fact that people smoke, which is bad for their health, its (that) people who don’t smoke have a problem,’ Ha said. ‘Our main objective will be a smoke-free campus, but you have to take it in small steps ‘hellip; we need to think about all the consequences if we take that away.’
Americans for Nonsmokers’ Rights created a list of the colleges and universities around the country that enforce smoke-free air policies, stating that there are at least 365 campuses – including 13 in Texas – that are smoke-free.
‘Everyone has the right to do whatever they want as long as it does not infringe on someone else’s rights,’ Rodriguez said. ‘Some people say that drinking is worse than smoking because you can’t drink and drive a car but you can smoke and drive just fine. However, there is toxicity in smoking ‘hellip; it isn’t just the smoke the person is smoking ‘hellip; but the secondhand and thirdhand smoke.’
Both senators stressed the unlikelihood of implementing a completely smoke-free campus in the immediate future.
‘It’s not going to happen,’ Rodriguez said. ‘If we were going to stop smoking we might as well shut down cellular towers because those could cause exposure to a lot of radiation. We’d also have to stop people from coming in with the flu. We can’t protect our body from every disease and external factor. The 20 feet around doors (restriction) is a great thing to do because it lets students get to where they need to without smoke in their face.’
Ha said that although a smoke-free campus would be ideal, he knows the reality of it happening is unlikely.
‘What I and the Hilton College are worried about is that if we do become a smoke-free campus, we’ll lose students coming through to the college,’ Ha said. ‘I’m also representing people who do smoke. If I’m only representing the voices of the non-smokers, then I’m not really doing my job.’
Rodriguez said one of the issues with transitioning a campus into a smoke-free environment is that in many foreign societies, smoking is the norm.
‘We have a lot of international students ‘hellip; in their (cultures) it’s perfectly acceptable to smoke,’ Rodriguez said. ‘In our culture, it’s less acceptable ‘hellip; I don’t want to say that in the U.S. it’s a taboo, but it’s less encouraged.’
The UH Police Department enforces the current restrictions on campus, which range from the 50-foot distance around the A.D. Bruce Religion Center to the common 20-foot distance from most buildings, but only on a minor basis.
‘We don’t get many calls about it,’ UH Police Chief Malcolm Davis said.
Davis said that although issuing citations to students smoking in non-smoking areas does occur, it is rare.
‘I would hope that we could do it on an administrative level rather than a criminal level. When we get the occasional report, a staff or faculty member will let the department head handle it,’ Davis said. ‘Most people will do what you ask if you talk to them.
‘If you see someone smoking where they shouldn’t be, just tell them that they need to be at one of the smoking areas.’
