Smoking resolution does not pass
Elizabeth Koch
Issue date: 10/29/09 Section: News
Senior Dan Heagney,
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member of Student Senate, said he mainly voted against the smoking resolution because it was based on a problem that he views as only a minor inconvenience. Heagney helped revise the current resolution to make it passable, but still didn't agree with the foundation.
"I kind of figured that [the vote] would come down to very close, or dead even, like it did," he said.
Heagney said one benefit of the resolution is that it has made smokers more aware of the respect they should show non-smokers, by realizing that their right to smoke could be taken away. He said he thought the lobbying for the passing of the resolution seemed somewhat unfair, because the non-smokers had one group fighting for the resolution to pass, while the smokers didn't have any representation working to fight against the passage of the resolution.
"I don't think CASE [Campus Community for Smoke-free Environments] is going to stop their crusade against smoking - I just don't know how much can be changed," Heagney said.
Heagney said that Interim President Darrell Krueger is in favor of the smoking resolution, and it's ultimately up to Krueger to take the issue to the Board of Governors. Simply telling people they cannot smoke won't solve the problem, but Truman will probably be a smoke-free campus in 15-20 years as the amount of smokers in the United States decreases, he said.
Brittany Camacho, with the Tobacco Prevention and Cessation Specialists, said she was surprised the resolution didn't pass based on the data from the Health Opinion poll that was sent out in September, she said.
"Eighty three percent of students were for 100 percent smoke-free campus," she said.
The resolution came about when TPCS realized that the Board of Governors policy didn't say anything about smoking, she said.
"We would like to go ahead and change [the policy] more to what is now taking place in the United States," she said.
Please see BAN, page 7
Continued from Page 1
member of Student Senate, said he mainly voted against the smoking resolution because it was based on a problem that he views as only a minor inconvenience. Heagney helped revise the current resolution to make it passable, but still didn't agree with the foundation.
"I kind of figured that [the vote] would come down to very close, or dead even, like it did," he said.
Heagney said one benefit of the resolution is that it has made smokers more aware of the respect they should show non-smokers, by realizing that their right to smoke could be taken away. He said he thought the lobbying for the passing of the resolution seemed somewhat unfair, because the non-smokers had one group fighting for the resolution to pass, while the smokers didn't have any representation working to fight against the passage of the resolution.
"I don't think CASE [Campus Community for Smoke-free Environments] is going to stop their crusade against smoking - I just don't know how much can be changed," Heagney said.
Heagney said that Interim President Darrell Krueger is in favor of the smoking resolution, and it's ultimately up to Krueger to take the issue to the Board of Governors. Simply telling people they cannot smoke won't solve the problem, but Truman will probably be a smoke-free campus in 15-20 years as the amount of smokers in the United States decreases, he said.
Brittany Camacho, with the Tobacco Prevention and Cessation Specialists, said she was surprised the resolution didn't pass based on the data from the Health Opinion poll that was sent out in September, she said.
"Eighty three percent of students were for 100 percent smoke-free campus," she said.
The resolution came about when TPCS realized that the Board of Governors policy didn't say anything about smoking, she said.
"We would like to go ahead and change [the policy] more to what is now taking place in the United States," she said.
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