UHCL becoming an exclusively smoke-free campus sparks questions on enforcement

Starting at the beginning of the Fall 2017 semester, UHCL will be considered a smoke-free campus. This new initiative was approved by the University Council (UC) during the Spring 2017 semester, based on a proposal presented by the University Life Committee (ULC).

The current smoking policy, approved by the UC March 20, 2014, states, “The University shall be a smoke-free campus except for officially posted designated smoking areas.”

These areas currently include the covered patio behind the Patio Café, the gazebo in the North Plaza of the Student Services Classroom Building (SSCB) and other outdoor locations on campus.

The newly approved policy states, “The University shall be a smoke-free campus.”

With the revision voted on and approved, there are lingering questions regarding enforcement of the policy.

The ULC Proposal
During the Fall 2016 semester, following complaints regarding the designated smoking areas, the ULC decided to move forward with a non-smoking policy.

The ULC’s purpose within UHCL’s shared governance process is to make recommendations to the UC regarding matters related to university-wide and student policies.

“For many years the University Life Committee has occasionally examined the smoking policy for changes,” said Robert Bartsch, professor of psychology and ULC chair. “The last set of changes occurred a few years ago and I, as chair, was given some of the complaints I had heard about the location of the smoking areas, and thought it was time to re-examine the issue.”

Bartsch then asked members of the committee to obtain feedback from their constituents.

“Committee members used a variety of ways to communicate with their constituents,” Bartsch said.

ULC student representative Victoria Duffoo conducted a straw poll of all students attending the March 21 Student Government Association (SGA) meeting. The poll resulted in 28 students in favor of becoming a smoke-free campus, while 13 voted against.

The Professional and Administrative Staff Association (PASA) conducted an online survey that was distributed to 307 professional staff with 74 percent of 174 respondents voting in favor of adopting a tobacco-free policy. The Support Staff Association (SSA) also sent out an online survey to 260 support staff members with 54 percent of 91 respondents voting for a tobacco-free policy.

Of the 34 Neumann Library employees, 17 responded with 13 in favor of the policy changes. The University Computing and Telecommunications (UCT) leadership gave support for a smoke-free campus, while 2 employees from the President’s Office were in favor of UHCL becoming smoke-free.

“I did not get any feedback from Student Services or HR; however, both of them may have believed they were represented through the PASA and SSA staff associations,” Bartsch said.

The College of Business (BUS) received 38 responses to a survey conducted with 68 percent strongly in favor of UHCL becoming tobacco-free. In votes conducted during faculty meetings, the College of Human Sciences and Humanities (HSH) had a 34-33 vote in favor of the recommended policy, while the College of Education (COE) had 26 out of 41 respondents vote in favor of the policy. Bartsch did not receive information from the College of Science and Engineering (CSE) representative on the ULC.

At the start of the Fall 2016 semester, the approximate total of faculty in each college were as follows: 72 in BUS, 109 in HSH, 54 in COE and 96 in CSE.

The ULC voted for the recommended policy to move forward to the UC based on that feedback.

“It needed 60 percent in favor (of those present) to forward the recommendation to UC,” Bartsch said. “The ULC vote was 9 in favor, 2 against, 1 abstention.”

Voting members of the ULC include representatives from: the Neumann Library; the SSA; the PASA; the President’s Office; Student Services; UCT; the executive director of Human Resources; one undergraduate student; one graduate student; and six faculty members from the Faculty Senate.

The UC Decision
Chaired by President Williams Staples, the UC makes final recommendations to the president.

Voting members of the UC consist of: the president; provost; interim vice president for administration and finance; seven associate vice presidents of various departments; four academic deans; eight members of the Faculty Senate Executive Committee; shared governance committee chairs; and the presidents of PASA, SSA and SGA.

As the SGA President at the time of voting and the only student representative of the UC, AJ Johnson presented a stance on behalf of the UHCL student body.

“The stance that I presented to UC was to pursue a middle-ground smoking policy, not a smoke-free campus policy,” Johnson said. “I proposed that the designated smoking areas be moved farther away from building entrances, mainly the designated area next to the Patio Café, which would be moved farther along the [Bayou] building on the vacant lawn area that can be seen outside the Forest Room, and to draft a campus policy that would state that a designated smoking area be X amount of feet away from a building entrance. I was thinking about the future buildings soon to come to campus when drafting this policy.”

Some of the reasons that Johnson presented for his stance included allowing students to express their individual right to smoke, the potential for decreased enrollment and safety concerns for students who ignore the policy and look for hidden places to smoke.

“If a student finds a semi-concealed dark corner, then the assault possibilities increase,” Johnson said. “In pressuring the council about this fact — other campuses have witnessed this increase — the council simply stated that the overall health concern from second-hand smoke was a greater risk than a ‘potential’ increase in bodily harm to students.”

Following the presentation of stances from the UC members, an official vote was conducted with 18 in favor of the smoke-free initiative, 5 against and 3 abstentions.

“I am not proud of how my university handled this situation, and continue not to be,” Johnson said. “The blatant disregard [of UC members] for their student population reinforces the development of a student senate to build a stronger voice and place pressure on administrators. Moreover, the council is unrepresentative of UHCL largely due to only one student on the council, which many forget holds the weight of +8,000 voices. That structure needs to change.”

Although not everyone on the UC was satisfied with the results of the vote, the smoke-free campus initiative is one that other universities, such as the University of Houston-Main, have adopted.

“Smoking can pose a health risk to those who smoke or are near it,” Staples said. “Second-hand smoke, as well as chewing tobacco, can not only be damaging to one’s health, but can also cause harm to property. Many institutions of higher education have adopted smoke-free campus policies in the past decade, so this type of change isn’t uncommon.”

Enforcement
With the UC approving UHCL becoming an exclusively smoke-free campus, there are concerns as to how the policy will be enforced and by whom.

As stated in the policy, “The enforcement of the University smoking policy will rely heavily on a shared responsibility of each member of the university community.”

It goes on to state that if a community member or guest fails to adhere to the smoking policy, university police can be contacted.

“If someone continues to smoke after being told by a community member that the university is a smoke-free campus, the police department may be called at that point to come out,” said Allen Hill, chief of the UHCL Police Department. “We will not issue a citation; the tobacco-free policy is not a violation of state law. We will identify the violator(s) and refer them to the appropriate department, ie: human resources or the Dean of Students office.”

For students, neglecting to follow the smoking policy could lead to consequences of varying degrees depending on the circumstance.

“Like any other student code violation, if a student is found responsible they could face a variety of sanctions, which includes: an official warning to probation to suspension or expulsion depending on the circumstances,” said David Rachita, dean of students. “Regardless of the sanction, the student would then have an official conduct file on record with the university. This should be a concern for the student, for many potential employers and graduate programs require a release from the student to determine if that student has ever had a conduct file.”

Regardless of community members concerns, UHCL will officially be a smoke-free campus starting the Fall 2017 semester.

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Also published on Medium.