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.