The University
of Kentucky, Oklahoma
State University,
University of New
Mexico and University
of Florida all have smoking bans in
place.
All four of these
universities are land grant institutions.
"That is one thing
we know we have in common with them already," said C.B. Wilson, the head
of WVU's Smoking Task Force.
By looking at the
policies of these institutions the task force hopes to learn several things.
"First we want to
review and identify how these schools are alike or different from us,"
said Wilson.
The task force wants to
see if it can use the other universities' policies as a template.
The next thing the task
force is focused on learning is how each university went about creating a
smoking ban on their campuses and what exactly the ban encompasses. The goal is
to discover how to implement such a ban, or to learn what kind of reactions
such a ban might generate.
"Looking at these
policies may show us the options we may or may not have," said Wilson.
Wilson
said there are a lot of little details which are not considered until the
possibility of a ban is really looked into. This includes whether the ban
applies to visitors to the university.
Another important angle
the task force needs to look at is the enforcement of policies.
Phil Prokes, a senior at
the University of Kentucky,
says that enforcement of the smoking ban does not appear to be a priority at
his school. The University of Kentucky
enacted its smoking ban in November 2009, but Prokes says he still sees people
smoking on campus often.
"Students, faculty,
and staff are supposed to courteously tell people who are smoking to stop or
leave campus but most people just stay quiet," said Prokes.
According to the University
of Kentucky's policy, students who
are reported are punishable under the student code of conduct and will be
written up.
Faculty and staff who
are caught smoking are reported to the head of their department to be
reprimanded. This system falls apart if no one reports offenses.
Wilson
explained that ll peer institutions with smoking bans have some variation in
their policies which may or may not apply to WVU. He also said that learning
from those who have already gone through the process is important in
discovering what to do next.
The task force's next
meeting is Thursday, March 18. They hope to have a representative from the
county board of health present as well to discuss issues that could arise if the city of Morgantown enacts a smoking ban.
Ryan Tegeder is a West Virginia University School of Journalism student. He filed this report as part of West Virginia Public Broadcasting's partnership with WVU.