The University of Colorado is revealing a new proposal that will improve their green-campus image by creating a tobacco-free campus without compromising students’ rights, the CU Board of Regents said.
The Board of Regents proposes ideas for the university, and Chancellor Philip P. DiStefano decides how they should be executed, CU regent Michael Carrigan said.
“As a board, we set broad goals that we hope the university reaches in a few years,” Carrigan said. “The chancellor then handles the logistics of the proposal.”
According to the Americans Nonsmokers’ Rights Foundation, there are 420 completely smoke-free campuses in the U.S., including eight in Colorado: Carroll Community College, Columbia Union College, Frederick Community College, Garrett College, Harford Community College, Colorado Mountain College Summit Campus, Northeastern Junior College and CU-Denver Anschutz Medical Campus.
After studying other smoke-free universities, Carrigan said he believes a campus-wide tobacco ban will be most effective with little or no enforcement.
“Over time I think it will become self-enforcing,” he said. “Peer pressure and a common goal for environmental leadership will regulate the smoking ban.”
Carrigan said the ban would ideally encompass students, faculty, staff and visitors included inside the main campus boundary.
“We don’t have the money or time for a police force to patrol campus in search of smokers,” Carrigan said. “The process would start with signage and posters and be followed by peer pressure.”
Carrigan said that a voluntary survey was issued to students in November 2007 to see what students thought about the ban proposal. Of the 8,726 student responses, 51.5 percent supported a tobacco-free campus.
Carrigan said he was happy with the results of the survey.
“The survey displayed better results than I initially expected because it was a voluntary survey, and people that respond to those are usually opposed to the idea being proposed,” Carrigan said.
Some students said they believe enforcing a smoking ban on campus is a violation of free will.
“I am not a smoker, but I don’t think a campus of 30,000 students will be able to go smoke-free,” said Brennan Caley, a 20-year-old sophomore geology major. “If kids want to smoke outside I feel like they should be able to do that.”
Others said they think a smoking ban is positive for the university and students.
“Every time I walk to class I get stuck behind a smoker and have to inhale second-hand smoke for the duration of my walk,” said Courtney Enix, a 20-year-old junior integrative physiology major. “It’s not fair that non-smoking students have to suffer the health effects of smokers.”
According to the Mayo Clinic’s website, the particles in secondhand smoke can linger in the air for hours, irritate lungs and reduce the amount of oxygen in blood in just a short period.
This lingering air contains thousands of toxic chemicals, such as carbon monoxide, cyanide, lead and nickel, which can contribute to health problems such as coughing, phlegm and wheezing and more serious complications like lung disease, heart disease and cancer.
In 2010, more than 658,000 of Colorado residents 18 years and older are cigarette smokers. Colorado ranks 21st among all states as the strongest-smoking population, according to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
In addition to minimizing smoking-related health concerns, some say a smoke-free campus would increase CU’s green campus reputation.
“I do think being smoke-free would help our green image and encourage other universities to follow in our footsteps,” Caley said.
While some students agree with Caley, others recognize the difficulties associated with the ban.
“I think this ban would take a small sacrifice that would generate large amounts of focus, success and initiatives for our university,” Enix said.
Contact CU Independent Staff Writer Kendall Schoemann at Kendall.schoemann@colorado.edu.
