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Click to enlarge.
A statement sent out by Columbia cleared up some of the details of the USenate smoking ban talked about at the last meeting, stating that the smoking areas seen on the map will go into effect on July 1. Notably, one of the areas is in front of Butler, so studiers stepping outside for a breath of fresh air will still be greeted by a smoky slap in the face (20 feet, our ass).
They didn’t say anything about how they were going to enforce compliance, only noting that “all members of the Columbia community” were responsible for following the rule “voluntarily.”
Here’s the press release they sent out:
On May 3, 2013, the University Senate adopted a resolution to limit smoking to designated areas on the Morningside campus. The designated areas will go into effect July 1, 2014.
Smoking will be permitted at 14 locations on the Morningside campus that will be outlined via an online campus map and available in print at key locations like Lerner Hall, the Visitor’s Center, and Public Safety guard booths.
Following the Senate resolution, a task force comprised of students, faculty, and staff, including both smokers and non-smokers, was created to determine the implementation plan, including the designated smoking areas. The areas were carefully chosen to respect the rights of smokers and the well-being of non-smokers.
Key designated smoking areas on lower campus will include outside Butler Library, as well as undergraduate residence halls Wien, Hartley, Wallach and Furnald. On upper campus, locations will include outside Lewisohn Hall, between Avery and Fayerweather, Low Library, Uris Hall, and other select locations.
All designated places are at least 20 feet from building entrances, but still provide smoking areas near highly trafficked campus locations, with shelter when possible, or along commonly used travel routes.
Smoking urns will be installed in each area, making it easy to identify the appropriate location and to ensure that cigarettes are disposed of in the proper waste receptacle. Information regarding New York State’s smoking cessation program (1-866-NY-QUITS) will be posted on all smoking urns.
All members of the Columbia community, as well as visitors, are expected to voluntarily comply with the smoking policy. Mutual respect for individual rights and recognition of personal responsibility are paramount to the success of the implementation.
This replaces the resolution originally implemented in 2010, when the Senate limited smoking to within 20 feet of a building entrance. The new resolution was introduced as a compromise between parties both for and against a smoke-free Morningside campus. In 2009, a smoke-free policy was implemented on all CUMC property, both indoors and outdoors.
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32 Comments
@in fairness One big reason smoking looks cool and devil-may-care is because in some ways it is. If you have a high-octane lifestyle and stand a decent chance of dying tomorrow, you aren’t going to worry as much about lung cancer. Our generation has also been taught from childhood about the dangers of smoking, so if you’re young and smoke anyway then you have at least some disrespect for authority.
But whatever, it’s still awful for you and those are crap reasons to call this very reasonable ban “discrimination.” I smoke and this does not strike me as even close to unfair
@Anonymous Smoking prevents tuberculosis
@spare us all bronchitis They should just make the entire campus smoke free. We are in New York City. If you’re seriously itching to have a smoke, just take a two minute walk and you’ll find yourself on a street. They are in surprising abundance in this area.
@Anonymous Ew. Make Columbia smoke free.
@Honestly, Columbia would be better “ew” free.
@what This map is basically the whole campus (except walkways and inhospitable flowerbeds) when you realize that the smoke will inevitable escape your little red dots.
@All the Cool kids Smoke Sorry but all you nerds are basic. My dad smoked all his life and is still around.
Chill out and let the artists and rockstars and hipsters do their thing.
Peace,
Phillip Morris
@Anonymous do you “ew smoking is bad” idiots realize that the ban has stopped exactly zero people from smoking on campus? all of these “designated smoking areas” will amount to is urns being installed, which may curtail litter. It probably won’t, since cigarette smokers usually just throw butts on the ground anyway, but it’s better than nothing.
@bc16 it’s especially hard to avoid smokers now that the bleachers/tents are up for graduation.
barnard campus is smoke-free, would it really be so awful if columbia’s was too?
@Asthma I am so in favor of this policy, as inevitably inhale smoke more on Columbia’s campus than anywhere else in NYC!
Thank you USenate, I hope people stick to these restrictions, and I would even advocate for a reduction in the proposed areas or a smoke free campus.
@DUDE I FEEL YA! as my post above said…having asthma at Columbia is the worst. Like i like to breathe and stuff. I sleep with my nebulizer here more than i did at home (where 20% of the population are smokers and smoking is allowed in bars still.).
@still in front of butler?? As a smoker, I always try to go out and smoke late at night and in a generally barren area so as to avoid offending people. Butler is a huge traffic zone during the day, and it’s a little ridiculous to me to make a high traffic area a smoking zone. At least the designated areas in front of the residence halls (especially Wien and Furnald) are usually pretty barren compared to Butler, and there are fewer instances to offend. Smoking IS a choice, and that legal choice shouldn’t be stripped away from students. But at the same time, the majority of the student body who is non-smoking shouldn’t have to worry about going to the most popular studying space on campus and have to walk through a cloud of fumes.
@Anonymous the butler smoke zone is real
@As someone who suffers from awful asthma.... THANK YOU! you have the right to smoke, but i also have the right not to have an asthma attack. SO THANK YOU FOR REALIZING THAT AND FOR DOING YOUR BEST TO MINIMIZE YOUR IMPACT!!!!
@eew Personally when this ban goes into affect im going to use my super soaker on anyone smoking outside of the designated areas
@Anonymous this is dumbbbbbb. nobody ever STOPPED smoking in front butler in the first place. there isn’t any ban to reverse.
@Anonymous I’ve quit smoking, but I still think this map is silly. Besides the fact that smokers are inherently “rule-breakers,” breaking the number one rule of elementary school health class, what if non-smokers have congregated in these designated smoking areas? A courteous smoker would smoke in a non-designated area.
Most smokers will try to give you space and blow away from you. In a city like this, we’re all crammed together. If you want to minimize the smoke you inhale, pay attention to your surroundings the same way you do to avoid stepping in dog shit or running into people. I’ve seen so many people refuse to take a step to the right to be out of the range of someone smoking while they walk down the sidewalk, then indignantly sneer at the smoker or even (please don’t do this) stop, force a cough, and scowl. Secondhand smoke is not healthy, but neither is car exhaust or fumes from low quality heating oil. There are a lot of things dirtying your air in New York City.
I’m opposed to prohibition, and New York City is approaching tobacco prohibition. Artificially high cigarette prices have led to a black market for cigarettes that makes it easier for teens to smoke and puts people who can’t afford $12 packs at risk making illicit deals. The literally impossible-to-follow rule that you aren’t supposed to smoke within 20 feet of basically any building in the city leads smokers to ignore the buildings around which there really should be bans (like hospitals and schools). And if police really started enforcing these rules, who do you think they would target? The banker stepping out for a smoke on Wall Street, or poor black and latino men? The war on cigarettes should be fought with health education and with media choices (How about you scowl at Mad Men? I crave a smoke every time I watch it.)
@JS shut the fuck up you big bitch
@Blunts in Butler But what if my bong has a gas mask?
http://i.imgur.com/XJrO4.jpg
@Whoa Whoa Whoa They forgot the weed dot behind SIPA
@shhhh don’t ask don’t tell
@Anonymous Oh please, as if that spots a secret to anyone.
@Mudd Terrace But if I’m not included will anyone come visit me anymore?
@Arsene Wenger Muh public health! So glad to see that the USenate has it’s priorities in order
@weedster is this in regards to weed?
@What about Hookah on the lawns? Is that still kosher?
@The Jewish Theological Seminary Yes, is Kosher. God bless.
@the war on fun Only if you let public safety smoke it too.
@discrimination http://www.columbiaspectator.com/opinion/2014/03/24/dont-ostracize-smokers-usenate-ban
@Are you serious? Smoking is a choice. It’s a habit with serious negative health ramifications for not just the smoker but everyone nearby. There are ample resources available to help people stop smoking. If you’re going to smoke it’s not my responsibility to accommodate your addiction at the expense of my clean air. Throwing around the word ‘discrimination’ like this is an insult to everyone who faces actual discrimination. Get a grip.
@Anonymous “Fourteen percent of New Yorkers smoke. That’s one in seven people. I am that seventh person, the seventh that the Columbia University Senate voted last May to ostracize, inconvenience, and marginalize with its freedom-curtailing measure to take effect in July.”
Ninety percent of people masturbate. That’s nine in ten people. I am one of the nine people, the one that most jurisdictions voted to ostracize, inconvenience, and marginalize with their freedom-curtailing measures against public nudity.
@Anonymous Just stop smoking. Please.
It’s 2014. You don’t look cool, it’s been proven literally hundreds of times that it’s terrible for you, and you will smell like an ashtray.
Calling it discrimination is one of the more ludicrous things I’ve ever heard – are we discriminating against sex offenders by preventing them from being near kids? No. They made a choice. Now they live with it. You’re not any different.
Save the pity party for when your lungs look like burnt toast because you wanted to be hip and urban.