In just 83 days, Arizona State University’s new “soft approach” of community enforcement against the use of tobacco on campus and secondhand smoke will take effect.
After August 1, tobacco will be “prohibited on university property, facilities, grounds, parking structures, university-owned vehicles and structures owned or leased by the university,” according to ASU.
Previously, tobacco users were allowed to smoke on campus provided they were 25 feet from building entrances. The new policy restricts students and faculty from using any tobacco products, including alternatives such as smokeless tobacco, chew and hookah, while on university property.
University officials have taken a “soft approach” of community enforcement to the prohibition. ASU Police will not be involved with enforcement of the ban in any way, according to Assistant Chief of ASU Police Jim Hardina.
Instead, the “community enforcement (approach) relies on individuals to educate one another about the tobacco-free policy at ASU and ask that individuals extinguish tobacco material,” ASU documents said.
Emily Antuna, USGD director of public relations, said she is unsure how effective the community enforcement policy will be.
“Students might listen to their peers more than administration, but, then again, it could go the other way,” Antuna said. “Nobody’s going to want to be the one that tells people, ‘you really shouldn’t be smoking.’”
If one wishes to report a student smoking, the time and location may be submitted in a written referral to the Office of Student Rights and Responsibilities. According to current ASU disciplinary procedures, the dean of students will then review if further actions need to be taken. If one wishes to report a staff or faculty member, ASU recommends contacting their department supervisor.
Blaine Thiederman, president of ASU Students for Liberty, said the smoking ban will be pointless without police enforcement. He also said ASU’s plan to remove all ashtrays from its four campuses will increase in litter and end up “hurting the campus as a whole.” Designated smoking areas would be a much more efficient compromise, he said.
“This university is considered a public university. The common areas are ‘public’ and must be shared as such,” Theiderman said. “Catering to the majority at the expense of the minority is the worse choice when compromise on both sides is possible.”
According to ASU, 86.4 percent of ASU students do not smoke cigarettes and 92.1 percent of students do not smoke tobacco using a hookah.
ASU Students for Liberty held a protest in November against the ban to promote the right they believe one should have to smoke. The group offered free cigarettes and other choices of doughnuts, chips, apples or bananas.
According to Thiederman, many against the ban were nonsmokers who believed the upcoming ban overstepped its boundaries on an individual’s right to chose what to ingest into their bodies.
ASU will be joining 608 other universities nationwide to become a tobacco-free campus.
ASU is offering multiple services to students and staff to help those who wish to quit, and plans to hold events in the future to educate about tobacco usage and the dangers of secondhand smoke. Antuna also mentioned that the ban may have more effect on certain campuses.
“For those that live in downtown Phoenix, all they have to do is walk across the street and they can smoke,” Antuna said. “But in Tempe, now smokers will need to walk a lot farther to escape the boundaries.
“But I think overall the intentions behind the ban are good,” she said. “I think ASU is just trying to promote a healthier lifestyle for everyone at the university.”
Contact the reporter at zachary.hillenbrand@asu.edu
