Smoking ban under consideration

Students may soon have the opportunity to vote on a campus-wide smoking ban in a student referendum as early as next year. The idea for the ban came from Dr. Douglass Covey, the vice president of Student Affairs, last year when he pitched it as an idea for the University Sen- ate to consider. "Last year I suggested the idea, but it never made it out of committee," Covey said. "Its something the university should certainly consider." "I would love to see this policy brought up before the Student Alliance and Development Committee in the University Senate," Covey said. President James Dutton of the Student Govern- ment Association wants a referendum on the topic, in order to allow students on campus to voice their opinions. "[The referendum] should really engage all the students," Dutton said. "We think the fairest way would be a referendum." Although no concrete plans have been scheduled yet for a vote, students have already begun speaking out about the ban. Some non-smokers like Danielle Daoust, a junior marketing major, support the idea of a smoking ban because of the negative side effects of second hand smoke. Daoust said that she has asthma, and when she walks past another student that is smoking, it causes her asthma to flare up. "I shouldn't have to be affected by someone else's decisions," Daoust said. One compromise would be to designate official smoking areas away from the busiest places around campus. Diamond Hill, a sophomore journalism ma- jor, said this would be the best solution for everyone. "I feel like there should be select areas away from everyone else," Hill said. She thinks that if citations were given to students that smoke, students would obey the ban. State law already bans smoking 25 feet outside the doors of a public building, but Michael Johnson, a second-year philosophy graduate student, thinks a ban would make enforcement even harder. Johnson is a smoker, but he said Georgia State should set up designated areas instead of a total ban. "Well, I think they should probably set up smokers' lounges instead," Johnson said. "I think it would be a huge inconvenience for the smokers on campus if there is not a dedicated place or dedicated places that are convenience to reach and people can smoke." Even a small space in the courtyard would be accept- able, Johnson said. "To be quite honest, this quad is quite big. You could designate an area and enforce it if you wanted," Johnson said. "Once again, enforcement of this is going to be a hi- larious sort of thing. I doubt they're going to be able to do much enforcement if they do put a smoking ban on campus." Smokers need to be conscious of how they're perceived by other students and need to respect others' rights, John- son said. "I'm out here at the margins, I don't want to disturb anyone," Johnson said. "People have a right not to breathe my smoke, so I don't want to force that on anyone, and I try not to. Smokers need to be courteous." Still other smokers like Adam Burkes, a senior english major, absolutely reject any sort of ban. "I think it's frankly over-restrictive," Burkes said. "We pay tuition to go here. We're all adults here."