Campus Council members supported a smoke-free residential campus in a 9-8 vote at their meeting Thursday night, following intense debate. The proposal will now go to University administrators for approval.
“Our hope is that [the resolution] would be accepted by [Residence Life and Housing Services] as well as upper-level administrators,” Temple said.
At the counsel of Healthy Devils, Campus Council reconsidered the smoking policy on campus and called for the prohibition of smoking across all residential areas of West and East campuses, with the exception of designated smoking areas such as the parking lot southwest of Kilgo Quadrangle or the Keohane fire lane. Campus Council outlined designated areas but deferred the authority of selecting smoking areas to Residence Life and Housing Services and facilities managers, said President Stephen Temple, a junior.
“We were able to represent the large majority of the students’ voices on campus,” Temple said. “Campus Council is not trying to reduce smoking on campus, but more so is hoping to instate the policy that is best for the residential population.”
To emphasize the need for a stricter smoking policy, Temple noted an incident in which a female student in Edens Quadrangle suffered an asthma attack and was hospitalized due to second-hand smoke.
But in the case that the designated areas resolution is not attainable, Campus Council also passed a backup resolution by a 9-5 vote. The backup plan includes the prohibition of smoking within 25 feet of all residential halls as well as all walkways that are parallel and within 50 feet of the residential halls.
The backup resolution is aimed to provide a smoke-free zone for students to walk anywhere from the residential halls without someone smoking on the walkways, said Facilities and Services Chair John Pryor, a junior.
The resolution is in line with peer institutions’ smoking policies, Temple noted. The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill currently implements a 100-foot smoke-free perimeter around residential halls, said Vice President Alex Reese, a junior.
Campus Council also proposed to restructure the Last Day of Classes committee by creating the position of a chief financial officer in conjunction with Duke University Union.
“In the past, there were more of the informal structures of the LDOC committee,” Temple said.
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