On Thursday August 8th
a
special meeting was held in the Community Room to discuss the ramifications of the proposed amendment to
the F-60 smoking policy. In this picture SGA members are observing
President Ohrn signing the unanimous resolution against proposed Policy
F-60 as written. Proposed policy F-60 bans all tobacco products on
campus including electronic cigarettes. Student government has voted to oppose the ban for a number of reasons including:
- Medical research has supported the use of electronic cigarettes as a "harm reduction" method for tobacco cigarette smokers attempting to reduce or eliminate their use.
- Electronic cigarettes do not contain tobacco and primarily contain nicotine.
- The proposed policy was created during the summer semester and without proper input from students, faculty, staff, and members of the college community.
- Our current tobacco policy has been implemented successfully and only minor corrections are necessary to ensure proper enforcement.
- Forcing students, staff, and faculty to stop smoking on campus will not eliminate personal use and creates further tension in a stressful academic environment.
- Enforcement of this policy will be extremely difficult and other health and safety issues will arise if the policy is enacted.
