Muleskinner

Issue date: 2/22/07 Section: News

Confined- Jill Sperry, sophomore Public Relations and Theatre major, Alexander Mann, studio art major and Jesse Jones smoke outside the Art Center in a designated area. An SGA referendum could ban smoking on the academic campus.

Students will have the opportunity to decide if the UCM academic campus should be smoke-free.

The vote on the Student Government Association (SGA) referendum will take place April 12 through 13.

The referendum was created in hopes to solve problems students presented to SGA members. Students complained about being exposed to smoke while exiting or entering campus buildings and walking behind smokers in non-designated smoking areas, said Adam Sommer, chair of the University issues committee. Another complaint made by students was the unenforced designated smoking areas, Sommers said. According to the University policy, students are only allowed to smoke on campus if they are at a designated location.

"With the University's name change, we are in the process of becoming a more recognized university," Sommer said. "One way to do that is to have proactive policies toward the health of the student population."

The referendum does not include non-academic buildings, such as residence halls or the Multipurpose Building, Sommer said. Compliance is not mentioned in the referendum because it will be the administration's decision if the bill is approved.

SGA may make enforcement "recommendations" through their resolution process in the future, he added.

A similar legislation was rejected in. It was signed by Kyle Drake, senator, and used statistical research provided by Arton. The legislation failed due to "sweeping language," Sommer said.

SGA decided to keep the same ideas but alter their approach. Generally, SGA members speak "on behalf of our constituents" by creating bills and going through a multiple step approval, said Brad Wright, senator.

However, this bill is "controversial" and instead needs student approval, Wright said. This is the primary reason the bill was made a referendum, Sommer said.

"It's a contentious issue that should not be solely for the senate to decide because it would literally affect the entire campus," Sommer said. "The popular opinion needs to be followed in this case."

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