53 Comments
First it was freshman residences, then all dorms, and now the main campus: Columbia University’s tobacco policy working group has “has forwarded a set of recommendations, including a proposal to prohibit smoking in within the gated areas considered the core of campus.” The policy would go into effect in next year.
In explaining the proposed changes, the website cites, among other reasons, an “increase in number of city, state, and federal regulations regarding smoking,” “consistent decrease in number of smokers and increase in community support for more smoke-free spaces,” “encouraging healthier behaviors that translate to workplace benefits,” and “less litter, more physically attractive campus environment.”
A final decision has not been made yet on the recommendations, as open feedback sessions are being held next Tuesday and Friday, as well as the following Wednesday and Thursday (times and locations after the jump). Students can also provide confidential feedback online. A final decision will be made in the summer.
Members of Columbia University Community:
In 2008, following inquiries from the NYC Health Commissioner and changes to New York State law, Columbia University convened a tobacco workgroup to consider changes to the University tobacco policies. The group, made up of student and staff representative from 12 different schools and departments, has investigated best practices for tobacco policy on college campuses around the country. The workgroup has forwarded a set of recommendations, including a proposal to prohibit smoking in within the gated areas considered the core of campus. As a part of this policy consideration, we are soliciting feedback from students, faculty, and staff. We invite you to visit the following website to review the proposal (including maps and proposed designated smoking areas) and provide confidential feedback: http://www.columbia.edu/cu/studentservices/docs/smoking/index.html
In addition to providing comments via this website, you may also elect to attend one of the following four open forum feedback sessions:
- Tuesday, April 21, 2009 from 12:00 – 1:00pm in Lerner 477
- Friday, April 24, 2009 from 12:00 – 1:00pm in Lerner 568
- Wednesday, April 29, 2009 from 5:00 – 6:00pm in Lerner 569
- Thursday, April 30, 2009 from 5:00 – 6:00pm in Lerner 569
Following this feedback period, the proposal and community comments will be forwarded to University administration for consideration. A decision on the proposal is expected to be made during the summer of 2009. If you have additional questions or comments, please email Michael McNeil at mm3117@columbia.edu. Thank you in advance for your feedback.
Michael McNeil
Assistant Director
Alice! Health Promotion Program
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53 Comments
@Bull shit What about cars? Automobiles release far more pollution and toxin into the air than smokers and in NY probably do far more to harm your health on campus (and in your rooms) than smokers.
It’s revealing how most support for this plan features rhetoric about smokers supposedly being hipsters. Culture war!
@I've had it I’m so damn happy that this is going to happen. If I still see smokers trying to stink up the front of Butler and other dorms and have to force people coming in and out to take in the smoke, I’m going to take a baseball bat to their faces.
You want to be effed up? I’ll show you how bad you’ll look in the short term.
Assholes.
@Anonymous For all of you smokers out there, you’re all freaking ridiculous. In twenty years you’ll all be breathing on a respirator in a Truth commercial. So stop smoking now while you have the chance. You jackasses are some of the smartest people in the country. Shame…
@chimney As a smoker, I’ll concur with the other comments–we’ll smoke anyway.
Also: if anyone coughs in my face, I’ll burn their fucking eyelashes off with a stub.
@I've had it And when you try and burn my fucking eyelashes off, I’ll smash your face in with a bat
@uh huh her I’d love to see some entitled yoga brat carrying a bat, you freaking troglodyte.
@0011 Smokers have no excuse for throwing cigarette butts all over the floor, and today people lit up during Baccahanal sitting in a crowd. So, if you’re expecting any sympathy from non-smokers, forget about it.
@true... smokers are a minority these days. and if we want consideration from the minority, so we can keep our right to smoke in public (and we do), we oughtta be more considerate with where our clouds and our butts go.
@i hate people smoking on campus. it really should be banned asap.
@and by to, i meant two…sorry, i’m hungover.
@actually, in response to someone up there, i think fat people DO bother others. you buy a 600 dollar plane ticket to get a seat for yourself on a plane, and when you get to it only to realize that 1/2 of your seat is taken up by someone’s fat oozing onto your seat. or, you get on the subway after walking around all day and there is technically an empty seat, but oh wait…that fatty takes up to. we can ban smoking on campus, but we should also make fat people pay twice as much for certain things. deal?
@you are an asshole. be a little compassionate.
@... I am a non-smoker, but I think this is ridiculous.
@All This means is that all the gates would be surrounded by groups of smokers. Instead of walking through a tunnel of smokers to get into Butler, you;ll have to do it to get through the Carman/JJ gates
@all the world's a stage especially for smokers.
@can smokers please god use the damned ash trays? why does campus have to be so littered with your used butts. if you guys would use the ash trays, I wouldn’t give a damn… but you don’t, so smoke somewhere else.
@Dear University please do better things with your time
@Thank fucking jesus some one else realizes how goddamn trivial this is. No. one. will. enforce. this.
@ehh I’m a nonsmoker but I don’t really mind it being legal on campus. I mean, I’d prefer to limit my exposure to smoke in general, but I don’t really think banning on campus is necessary.
@hallelujah i hate walking front of butler because the fucking smokers
@yea or walking into or out of any other building for that matter.
and the problem with smoking is that it directly affects other people. its fine as long as u do it somewhere private and not contaminate everyone else’s airspace.
i dont care if ppl are fat/use sunscreen or not as long as u dont bother other ppl. those are completely unrelated so be quiet #29
@whatever columbia will do things and enforce things. and then you graduate. and then columbia will not force you to do things (unless its donating).
@also good luck forcing all those stressed and disheveled grad students from not taking a smoke break (see: avery).
@and also the comments form doesn’t work on their site for me either
@good idea http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/09/health/policy/09smoke.html
i think it’s a great idea.
@smoking is intrusive unlike other behaviors
its gross
@too sorry, I meant *too. i know how to spell, i swear.
@smoking sucks. the University should really ban this disgusting and sickening behavior that happens all to frequently on our campus. i really can’t stand it. if people want to smoke, they should do so only in the privacy of their (non-Columbia) homes and out of our breathing space.
@while we're at it... …we should ban fat people. gross, unhealthy, and expensive! oh and condom use and sunscreen should be REQUIRED on campus. Safety first!!!
@just go up to a smoking hipster and cough in his/her face whenever they blow a cloud of smoke. i do this frequently and always love the response i get.
@bush It’s the bitch-slap style – those in charge propose a solution that is completely an excessive and would never by feasible, the minority proposes a compromise to the untenable position which sacrifices some current rights but requires no concessions from the majority. The majority accepts the compromise which would have been impossible at the start and the minority willingly loses a few rights with nothing in return.
My counter-proposal is to force everyone to smoke at least a pack a week or face a monetary penalty.
@kjkjej the stupid “anonymous form” doesn’t work – Columbia clearly doesn’t care what people actually think and only puts up its stupid little survey monkey links to make people think that the university is listening.
@war on cancer strikes again
@Anonymous The 116th st gates will just be that much better of a photo-op with 40 smokers huddled in front of it.
@wow OR people could realize how stupid they are by wasting their money, health, and time (as well as other people’s health) and quit.
@wowow OR you could stop dictating behavior simply because you think it’s offensive or unpleasant. When’s the last time a smoker came up to you and told you all the great reasons why you should start?
All of these morality causes from so-called progressives are sickening – and I’m a non-smoker and a Democrat.
@LoveAtCU Laima Tazmin is trying 2 ban smoking on campus while making LoveAtCU. Don’t trust this biatch.
@good! Smoking is really obnoxious. I hate it when i get stuck behind some douchebag who’s walking ridiculously slowly and smoking, so I get a few extra whiffs of her cancerstick.
@umm I find you obnoxious and I’m not trying to ban you from campus.
@... how this goes down:
1) smoking is banned
2) ashtrays are removed
3) smoking declines temporarily
4) smoking returns back in full force
5) butts are thrown on the ground in lieu of now removed ashtrays
6) more maintenance people are hired to sweep them up.
7) money that could be spent on useful things goes to waste.
if they want to start a program to get phillip morris’ hooks off our nuts, they need to expand their existing quit support program to include a physical activity component.
@smoke I love smoking
@hookah will this include hookah?
@yay Yay.
Just quit smoking already.
@please PLEASE ban smoking on the campus. its for our own good.
@whoot it’d be easier to enforce when we don’t have to count 50 feet away from the buildings
@well i only smoke the herb, not cigarettes, but this is ridiculous.
@Banning? Who cares. It’s the enforcing we need.
I’m a n-s and even I think its a bit extreme to ban it throughout campus. Furthermore it just won’t be enforced.
Even now it’s prohibited in proximity of building and we still cant exit Butler at night without getting a faceful of toxin from congealing hipsters.
I’d just be happy if they enforced that around the most populated building on campus.
Move it 20 feet to the right, assholes.
@I tried to give feedback and it kept telling me my feedback was in an invalid format. Pah. Shows how much they really care what people think
@fail The form is working now… dunno what was wrong with what you did.
I used Safari.
@hey listen smoking is “banned” within the barnard gates already. guess how well that works out.
pat yourselves on the back for doing nothing, non-smokers! you are expecting a no-smoking policy to be enforced by a security staff that I always see lighting up. i think the tightness of your underwear is cutting off the flow to your brain.
(cue awesome “but cigarette smoke is actually cutting off blood flow in YOUR body snarf snarf snarf” joke. Non-smokers are about as humorless as the devoutly religious and half the fun)
@hmmm Clearly we non-smokers are not as angry as you, a smoker, however. Why don’t you go light up and calm yourself.
@that's probably because you guys aren’t the ones getting fingerfucked.
@Perhaps not, But my lungs are every time I walk past Butler. Look, its not like smoking is the end-all of your life, though possibly the end of it. This is not an argument about personal freedoms, because the more dangerous secondhand cigarette smoke goes into the lungs of anyone walking by, thereby harming smokers and non-smokers alike. I do not think banning smoking on campus is ridiculous at all. Perhaps arrangements can be made for smokers, like a particular ventilated room in Butler, to accommodate them. But for the time being, their habit is hurting other people too, so something needs to be done.