At many colleges, smokers are being run not just out of school buildings but off the premises. On Nov. 19, the University of Kentucky, the tobacco state’s flagship public institution, launched a campuswide ban on cigarettes and all other forms of tobacco on school grounds and parking areas. Pro-nicotine students staged a “smoke-out” to protest the new policy, which even rules out smoking inside cars if they’re on school property. Kentucky joins more than 365 U.S. colleges and universities that in recent years have instituted antismoking rules both indoors and out. In most places, the issue doesn’t seem to be secondhand smoke. Rather, the rationale for going smoke-free in wide open spaces is a desire to model healthy behavior. Measures like creating smoke-free buffer zones–so people don’t have to walk through a cloud of smoke to get into and out of school buildings–have had limited success. “We have a 25-ft. smoke-free boundary around campus buildings,” says Julee Stearns, health-promotion specialist at the University of Montana’s Curry Health Center. “But what’s 25 ft. to some people isn’t necessarily 25 ft. to others.” An all-out campus ban, says Stearns, removes the need for guesstimating. The university is considering such a rule, which could take effect as early as fall 2011. Purdue University, which has 30-ft. buffer zones, recently considered adopting a campuswide ban but tempered its proposal after receiving campus input. Smoking will now be restricted to limited outdoor areas. One big problem with a total ban is enforcing it. Take the University of Iowa. In July 2008, the school went smoke-free in accordance with the Iowa Smokefree Air Act, violations of which can result in a $50 fine. But so far, the university has ticketed only about 25 offenders. “Our campus is about 1,800 acres, so to think that we could keep track of who is smoking on campus at any given time isn’t really feasible,” says Joni Troester, director of the university’s campus wellness program. Instead, the school helps those trying to kick the habit by offering smoking-cessation programs and providing reimbursement for nicotine patches, gum and prescription medications like Zyban. The University of Michigan will probably take a similar approach when its ban takes effect in July 2011. “We don’t have a desire to give tickets or levy punishments,” says Robert Winfield, the school’s chief health officer. “We want to encourage people to stop smoking, set a good example for students and make this a healthier community.” Naturally, there has been pushback from students. “Where do we draw the line between a culture of health and individual choice?” asks Jonathan Slemrod, a University of Michigan senior and president of the school’s College Libertarians. “If they truly want a culture of health, I expect them to go through all our cafeterias and get rid of all our Taco Bells, all our pizza places.” Students might want to enjoy those Burrito Supremes while they can. In today’s health-obsessed culture, those may be next.
