The Journal

Issue date: 10/4/07 Section: News

Media Credit: Jennifer Meinhardt Junior Chris Diekhaus smokes a cigarette Oct. 1 outside of the Sverdrup building. "I can see not smoking by the doors where smoke can go in," Diekhaus said.

Smokers and non-smokers alike were firing up when Webster University's President Richard Meyers suggested that the campus should move towards becoming smoke-free at the Delegate's Agenda Sept. 18. The students were suggesting a possible designated smoking area away from building doors.

"I'm ready to give an edict from the president's office saying this is a smoke-free campus and no smoking is allowed anywhere on our properties," Meyers announced.

Non-smoking students have been complaining about smoking near building entrances. Some said that the smoke bothered them by wafting through the doors into the building and suggested moving smokers to a location away from the doors. Others said they were allergic to smoke or have asthma and would like to see it eliminated altogether.

If left up to him, Meyers said he'd ban smoking on campus immediately.

"We live in a society where there's enough medical research that's been done that shows the harmful effects not only to the smoker, but from second-hand smoke," he said. "Why shouldn't we get rid of it?"

Meyers later said he realizes that eliminating smoking on campus all at once is not a feasible solution. He said he wants students, faculty and staff to think about the possibilities of a smoke-free campus. Ideally, they would be able to come up with ideas for a plan to phase out smoking.

"Some people, if they found it so onerous that they couldn't stand living here because there wasn't any smoking anywhere, they'd probably have to leave," Meyers said. "If we lost students over that, that's the price you pay. My guess would be that there would be more people who would want to come in because we are smoke-free than the number of people who would want to leave."

Some students felt that the idea was ridiculous.

"What are they going to do, ticket everybody who smokes? It's just not enforceable," said Shaun Wall, a senior audio and anthropology major. "If he wants to piss off a bunch of people, it's a great idea."

Sarah Jacobson, a senior advertising major, thought that designated smoking areas were a much better idea than eliminating smoking on campus altogether.

Continued...

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