In 2015 Oswego State decided to join the list of colleges with tobacco-free policies, yet enforcing the policy has become an ongoing issue.
With the recent problems involving vaping, major concerns over smoking on campus have arisen.
“It has been next to impossible to enforce the current policy because there is no state law prohibiting smoking on campus,” Barbara St. Michel, associate director of campus life at Oswego State, said. “On paper a student who smokes could face judicial charges for violating the student handbook, but not anyone has been brought up on charges. University Police does not get involved.”
St. Michel believes that at one point the number of students who smoked cigarettes decreased, but with the advancement of E-cigarettes, it is a whole different situation. There is not enough long term information about them, apart from some deaths they have already caused. The committee with the intention of creating a healthy environment for their students, decided to apply the policy not only to tobacco products, such as cigarettes, cigars, pipes and chewing tobacco, but also to E-cigarettes and other vaping products.
“I believe in the policy.” Oswego State student Jared Perez said. “I am asthmatic, therefore secondhand smoking exposure makes it more difficult to cope with, so it really bothers me when I see someone smoking around campus. Plus, I have recently seen people on campus throwing butts on the drains which eventually ends up polluting Lake Ontario, and becomes a bigger issue.”
On the other hand, some avid smokers, both faculty and students, such as international student Mayank Giri, believe this would be a good opportunity to reasses the policy in order to look for more effective solutions.
“I have been a smoker for the past seven years, and I need to smoke at least once every hour and a half, I just refuse to walk one mile several times a day to respect a policy that doesn’t even take into consideration my opinion,” Giri said. “They are not encouraging people to stop smoking, they are forcing everyone that smokes to quit if they want to respect the policy.”
According to the American Cancer Society the rate of smoking in young adults between 18 and 24 was 14.9% in 2014, twice as much as the range found in high school students. This implied that an important number of young adults were starting to smoke while they attended New York colleges. The health of youth in New York is key for future economic success. Therefore, SUNY Board of Trustees approved a resolution supporting all state-operated campuses be tobacco free. However, each SUNY school tackles the issue in a different way, they all have different policies. 50% of SUNY colleges currently have completely tobacco-free policies.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced in 2018 a drastic decline in the smoking rate among those young adults. In two years, youth smoking rate decreased from 14.9% to 11.7% in 2016. Other SUNY colleges such as the Alfred State College have implemented designated smoking areas in order to tackle the issue in a way it could be reinforced easier.
“I like the Alfred State College smoking policy because it makes people respect the minimum distance from public buildings allowed by law, prevents non-smokers from the exposure to secondhand smoking, but at the same time it also gives a solution which smokers can realistically accept and respect,” Alfred State student Jennifer Lopez said. “Even if we don’t have a complete tobacco-free policy, it still encourages students to quit using conferences, social media and tobacco-free initiatives, as well as providing with necessary services to those who need help during the process.”
Despite the law enforcement of some SUNY smoke-free policies, the Chancellor and the Board of Trustees remain committed to a tobacco free SUNY.
“I don’t think at this point there is any chance of change on the policy itself,” St. Michel said. “We will persist to work with the sponsors of our college legislation to seek its acceptance.”
Photo from Klim Kin via Pixabay
