H -°, L 22° | Tomorrow: 
H 23°, L 4°Students at both the University of Michigan and Purdue University would have to either quit or find somewhere else to puff up if a smoking ban under serious consideration at both Midwestern schools is implemented.
The Michigan initiative bans smoking anywhere on its three campuses and, in lieu of receiving a ticket, offenders will be forced to attend workshops encouraging them to drop the habit.
“We are working to promote a culture of health, and this fits into that philosophy … We believe a smoke-free environment is another strong way to encourage a healthy lifestyle,” said Kallie Michels, associate vice president of communication at Michigan. “We hope that the policy will translate into more members of our community quitting smoking or never starting.”
The goal of the initiative is to make the campus completely smoke-free by July 2011 in order to create a “culture of health.”
“A campus-wide smoke free environment will help reduce the risk of second-hand smoke and ensure a healthier environment for faculty, staff, students and visitors,” the initiative states.
To help students quit smoking, Michigan is planning new programs that will be more accessible to faculty and staff.
These programs will offer an array of services to faculty, including free anti-smoking products, counseling, and co-pay reductions on certain prescription drugs to help employees quit. Students can get similar offers through University Health Service.
Additionally, Purdue University is in the initial stages of a campus-wide smoking ban similar to the Michigan proposal. The university has received a lot of ideas and student feedback supporting the ban, according to Purdue spokesperson Jeanne Norberg.
Norberg cited reasons similar to Michels’ for implementing the smoking ban at the Indiana school, namely health insurance costs, secondhand smoking and the health of students and employees.
Costs to initiate the program will depend on what the university ultimately decides to implement, however, she is optimistic a plan will be in place by January.
Currently nine campuses or systems nationwide are smoke-free, including the University of California-San Francisco, the Indiana University system and the University of Iowa.
No University of Wisconsin campus is currently entirely smoke-free. However, System spokesperson David Giroux said UW-Platteville is currently considering a campus-wide smoking ban, and that a student committee has been formed to consider the ban’s implementation.
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Yay! Wisconsin should get on this too. Nothing more annoying/rude than walking behind someone smoking and having to walk through their cloud of death.
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They should next work on obesity.Obesity increases the likelihood of various diseases particularly heart disease, certain types of cancer,osteoarthritis as well as many other diseases. They should start banning overweight people from eating unhealthy foods, and ticketing anyone overweight caught eating unhealthy foods. As well as opening workshops encouraging them to drop the habit. Programs should be instituted promoting eating healthy foods, and staying healthy.
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How would banning obesity do any good? Being overweight does not affect anyone around you like smoking does. Plus, people who smoke tend to just throw their cigarette butts on the ground or in flower pots and the such which is just unappealing and disgusting. As a UW alum attending school in Missouri (where a smoking ban on campus is set to go in effect in 2011) I hope that UW follows suit.
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People need to open their eyes. This is socialism!!! This is the government just trying to be in peoples lives more then they already are. If you want to beat the bans and still smoke go to www.Crown7.com
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I couldn’t agree more, cigarette monkey. If people don’t have the right to smoke on campus then they shouldn’t have the right to be fat on campus either.
No smoking in buildings? That’s a no brainer about second hand smoke and harming others, but outside is a different story. No one is forcing you to walk behind that dirty smoker and his “cloud of death”. If you don’t like smoking and choose to avoid it, then stay the fuck away from me when I’m having a smoke break outside. No one is forcing you to stand next to me. Judge me all you like but don’t tell me what to do.
I understand the unappealing sight of cig butts littered across campus, and something should be done about that. I also find it rude to light up between classes when numerous other people are around me, and you can’t label the entire smoking community as rude and disgusting because of a few people’s poor manners.
The cat is out of the bag on smoking and how it is detrimental to one’s health, but people will continue to smoke. Their personal choice should be respected and they don’t need a lesson on quitting. If a smoker chooses to quit and finds that they need help then they will take the measures into their own hands to find it through the many resources offered through UHS, but why not respect the current smoker as a human being rather than looking down upon them like so many people seem to do on this campus?
I don’t judge people for wearing Ugg boots, walking around with different looking umbrellas, for dressing in a punk type of fashion, or for ordering that double cheeseburger that makes their ass look fat. People should do what makes them happy, and that includes smoking if they so choose. We’re so quick to criticize someone else and how they live without stopping to think about how our negativity impacts that person’s self esteem. Try, instead, accepting that person’s differences from you and allow them their right to free will without being heckled like campus is a middle school play ground.
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Factory workers:
With a hidey lidey lidey and a hidey lidey lay We work and we make cigarettes all hidey lidey day So folks can get a breaky from their stressful lidey lives And relaxy with the cigarettes we make all day and night
Young Worker:
I like to have a cigarehette every now and then It makes me fee-l calmer when the day is at an end.
Older Worker:
And if it gives me cancer when I’m eighty I don’t care Who the hell wants to be ninety anyway?
Factory workers:
So with a hidey lidey lidey and a hidey lidey lay We work and we make cigarettes all hidey lidey day So folks can get a breaky from their stressful lidey lives And relaxy with the cigarettes we make all day and night
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I don’t see how the government has the right to decide that you can’t smoke outside. I am a non-smoker and I believe that our personal choices are our problems. As mentioned above, if we decide to ban smoking, then we need to ban fat people, people that smell bad (I find that offensive), ugly people (also offensive) and overall, anything that would make someone’s feelings get hurt. Or, we can get over it and choose to walk around the smoker. It is their life, let them live it without telling them how they could do it better. I bet that for every time you tell someone how they should live their life, they would probably have a few tips for you, too. Only they would be polite, keep their mouth shut, and just smoke their cigarette!
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I’m so glad to hear that SOME smokers do have the welfare of non-smokers in mind and that they move away from heavily-populated places in order to have a cigarette. My experience, though, is that the vast majority of smokers are NOT that considerate, and they light up whenever and wherever they feel like it, provided that they are “not breaking any laws” by smoking indoors. On a college or university campus, there is sometimes limited access to certain buildings, and so there are certain walkways that MUST be used by everyone; in these cases, non-smokers do not have the choice to avoid smokers who insist upon using walkways and areas in between buildings to get their cigarette fixe.
These comparisons to banning obesity and ugliness are absolutely ridiculous — fat and ugly people do not affect the health of those around them. And that is the central concern about smoking in public places. No matter how much smokers try to minimize this fact, smoke gets into the air when they smoke outside, and other people around them (even as far as 100 feet away) have no choice but to breathe in that smoke. This is a more agregious invasion of civil rights than simply requiring a smoker to go somewhere else in order to pollute the air.
Smoking is not a right any more than littering, assault, or child abuse. And yet, smokers think it is their God-given right to pollute the air, put others’ health in jeopardy, and expose their children (and other people’s children) to toxins.
Why would we even consider protecting a person’s right to trample on the rights of others?