By Bailey Richards
The first town hall meeting for the Student Government Association was held today to discuss the issue of smoking on campus. Unlike the town hall meetings being held for the federal government these days, it was civil. All of the issues brought up were against the ban, however, the vast majority of people in attendance agreed that designated smoking areas would be a worthwhile compromise. OJ Oleka stated that the student government only found out about the ban six hours before the email went out to all of the students, and since then has been in talks with the Provost about many of the more controversial problems of it.
Issues of use of smokeless tobacco, enforcement, and safety of smokers forced to smoke off campus were all brought up and will be hotly debated with the Provost until the ban takes full effect in June. The main reason for the ban is still in question. OJ Oleka stated that from his talks with Provost Shirley Willihnganz, she made clear that the reason for a ban was health concerns and cost of the faculty and staff of the University. It was then argued that the amount of money that would thus be used to create a smoking area and to enforce the smoking ban would surely amount to more than the health costs.
The amount and placement of the smoking areas has yet to be decided although Oleka assured the students that the SGA would be a large part in making these decisions. The first phase of the ban will begin November 19th.
