Smoking at Ohio
University
Alice Ragland and Tom Pernecker
The Ohio University Smoking Policy, which was approved in
2006, states that “Ohio University prohibits smoking in all Ohio University
buildings; on appurtenant rooftops and terraces; in public buildings directly
or indirectly under the control of Ohio University; and within 10 feet of
University buildings, including windows and ventilation intake openings.”
The policy is fairly new, but most current OU students have
followed it since they first arrived.
During several interviews, student smokers and nonsmokers
were asked if they agreed or disagreed with the smoking policy. Many of the student smokers said that it did
not particularly bother them.
A time that the tight policy is problematic for student
smokers is when it rains outside. But
besides that, most smokers do not have a problem stepping 10 feet away from a
building to smoke.
Whether the policy is truly followed or not is another
question. Most students still smoke
directly next to buildings. It is
against the rules to smoke on the catwalks and the stairs on South Green, but
most smokers ignore this policy.
Normally when this rule is broken, students are not
punished. Resident Assistants and other
members of the Residential Housing department are the people who are supposed
to enforce this policy, but most students get away with smoking wherever they
want.
International students face a different challenge. Students from many other nations may have
been allowed to smoke indoors in their home countries, which is a big
transition to the stricter U.S. policies regarding smoking.
Even so, the international students that were interviewed
generally do not have huge objections about the smoking policy at O.U. One student mentioned that since he cannot
smoke in his dorm room like he can in his home country of China, he smokes less
now than he did before.
Most students agree that despite certain instances of inconvenience
for smokers, the smoking policy is overall fair for both smokers and
nonsmokers.
