By: Kaitlyn Lewis (News Editor)
Students and faculty are anticipating a smoke free campus set to come into effect on Wednesday Oct. 1, 2014. KSU has already begun removing benches and ashtrays from the designated smoking areas around campus.
The Board of Regents under the University System of Georgia (USG) first announced their smoking policy on March 19, 2014. The policy bans the use of all tobacco products including smokeless tobacco and e-cigarettes on all university properties.
“This prohibition includes but is not limited to all areas indoors and outdoors, buildings and parking lots owned, leased, rented or otherwise used by the USG or its affiliates,” reads the policy, which can be found on the USG’s website. In addition, “the use of tobacco products is prohibited in all vehicles—private or public vehicles—located on USG properties.”
Although the Board of Regents established the policy, it is KSU’s responsibility to enforce the smoking ban.
“Everything that is going on with implementation is localized to KSU. There’s implementation at every university and college that’s owned by the state,” said SGA president Eric Johnson.
Since March, KSU has been trying to educate and “forewarn” students and faculty of the upcoming implementation, said Michael Sanseviro, the Dean of Student Success.
One of the main ways KSU educates students about the policy is through the “Breathe Easy” campaign. On the “Breath Easy” website, www.kennesaw.edu/smokefree, students and faculty can learn more about the policy, which will affect the 33 public universities under the USG.
KSU plans to enforce the policy in three phases, which are found on the website. Phase two, which Sanseviro described as a data collecting period, begins Oct. 1.
During the spring semester, the SMILE approach will be used to enforce the smoke free policy. The SMILE approach can be found on the “Breathe Easy” website:
Smile and be friendly when approaching someone on campus smoking or using a tobacco product.
Make the assumption that the person does not know about our policy.
Inform the person about our policy and resources available on campus for quitting tobacco.
Let them know about the policy again.
Enforce by asking them to respect our policy and stop smoking or using tobacco on our campus.
“Our goal is not to be judgmental,” Sanseviro said. “Our goal is just to say, ‘We want the heathiest environment possible for everyone when it comes to our campus.’”
Phase three of implementation procedure will begin Jan. 6, 2015. During this time, students and faculty can report any violations of the smoke free policy through the KSU website. Frequent violators may be sent to student conduct and human resources if they are a KSU employee.
No one will be penalized for the possession of tobacco, Sanseviro said.
Sanseviro said that overall, students and faculty have been supportive of the new policy, with the exception of a “small handful” of faculty. “The overwhelming majority of people are not using [tobacco] products based on [our] survey data,” he said.
Freshman biology major, Leiliani Manera, who is a non-smoker, said she agrees with the new policy. “It’s awesome,” she said. “I think it’s a great idea. I hate walking by the smoking areas and breathing in the smoke, and it might even help them quit smoking.”
Junior communication major, Bakara Beard, is also a non-smoker who is supportive of the policy. “It’s a good way to help the school and help people,” he said.
“We understand it takes time for people to get acclimated—for people to get ready for change,” Sanseviro said.
Some students are still not ready for the change. Sophomore history education major, Cheyenne Mosier, is used to smoking in the designated areas on campus. “I’m not breathing the smoke down your throat,” she said. “We are already in our designated areas. If we keep it clean, I don’t see a problem.”
On their website, the USG says “the purpose of the policy is to create a health-supporting community for everyone, tobacco-users and non-users alike.”
“A lot of the non-smokers across the system—both students and employees have said we’ve kind of had enough of having to walk through smokers to go in and out of buildings,” Sanseviro said.
“I think [the smoking ban] will help people, yes, but I also think it is stupid,” said Sophomore Exercise Science major Casey Helgesen, who is a smoker trying to quit. Helgesen and Junior marketing major James Nolley, also a smoker, said they can understand the reasoning behind the smoke free policy although they do not agree with it.
“Honestly I don’t know how they are going to control all these students from smoking,” said Helgesen.
“We realize it will take time to change a culture,” Sanseviro said. “A lot of it came down to a desire to have a healthier employee pool—and we are not the first state to do this…There are thousands of campuses in this country that have moved in this direction.”
Approximately 1,478 college campuses in the United Sates are smoke free, according to the Americans for Non-smoker’s Rights. Approximately 292 colleges, including KSU, have also banned the use of e-cigarettes.
We want to know your thoughts on the smoking ban – reach out to us on Facebook and Twitter using the hash tag #KSUsmokingban.
I hate smoking, but…
> “the use of tobacco products is prohibited in all vehicles—private or public vehicles—located on USG properties.”
Student vehicles count as private. Are they seriously going to look inside our cars in case they need to enforce this policy? If so, then I think we just traded an annoying habit for decreased privacy and overbearing cops. I can’t imagine that going well at all.
I doubt that KSU is actually going to “look inside people’s cars.” I do not have an opinion on the legality of this, but I think that an overall ban might serve us well. Maybe it will make people who are addicted to cigarettes take a few minutes to think about their “habit.” Plus, I might be able to avoid walking through clouds of smoke on campus. That is always a plus.