On Aug. 1, 2017, Binghamton University will officially become a tobacco-free campus. An initiative started by the SUNY system, BU will join 70 percent of other SUNY schools that have some level of anti-tobacco policy, and 20 percent that have a complete ban of all tobacco products.
As a non-smoker, I was immediately supportive of the new plan. We’ve all experienced the cloud of cigarette smoke that invades our lungs and coats our bodies as we leave Glenn G. Bartle Library or Lecture Hall. Making BU a healthier campus was an idea I had no reason to reject — but the more I think about it, I can’t help but wonder if it’s a step in the wrong direction.
From more than 115 countries, around 3,000 of BU attendees are international students — that is no small number. In many foreign countries, smoking is treated far differently than with the negative connotation that is attached to the U.S. tobacco industry. Over 300 million people in China smoke, and in India, 275 million people are tobacco users.
With smoking rates as high as these, it’s unrealistic for BU to expect students who originate in other cultures, growing up without being exposed to a myriad of anti-tobacco ads and education initiatives, to change their ways just to get a college education at our school. There are thousands of universities in the world, many of which don’t have smoking bans. Who is to say that BU’s international population won’t dwindle after we start banning aspects of their home culture?
To help students adjust, the University intentionally scheduled the ban to be enacted starting in the fall semester of 2017. In addition to giving students 12 months to adapt, the school is also providing tobacco cessation services to its members, an essential part of the new regulation.
Yet still, with all of these efforts, it seems unfair to expect people who have belonged to this campus for years to change their habits just to continue to get their education. A year is not enough time to expect all students and faculty to quit; people can struggle for years to try to kick their tobacco addiction. Rather, it seems that it would make much more sense to announce the policy now but delay the implementation until fall of 2020, when all students currently enrolled have graduated, and the initiative can begin with a fresh new wave of smoke-free students.
But still the most conspicuous flaw I see in this plan is the lack of enforceability. After reading details of the policy, I am convinced that efforts toward a tobacco-free campus will never be absolutely successful. Under a section that speaks to enforcement, the University says imposing the ban is “the shared responsibility of all those in the campus community – tobacco users and non-users alike. Individuals are encouraged and empowered to respectfully inform others about the policy in an ongoing effort to support individuals to be tobacco free.”
The problem is too widespread to be contained by campus officials alone. Essentially, the University is expecting the compliance of tobacco users to be enforced by other students, an idea that is completely unrealistic. Few students are going to have the initiative to walk up to a group of frat boys smoking outside of a College-in-the-Woods building and politely remind them that we’re a tobacco-free campus. And if they don’t listen? The student has no actual authority to force their adherence.
This is not to say that I don’t condone the University’s strides in making BU a healthier campus. The demand for the initiative is supported by alarming statistics that speak of tobacco’s detrimental effects on health. It’s indubitable that action needs to be taken — but in more measured steps. Some colleges have established designated smoking areas on campus, which helps in preventing the inhalation of secondhand smoke and also contains the mess caused by cigarettes, an alternative that I think BU should consider.
I support the University’s motives for banning tobacco — I’m just not so sure that alienating other cultures and the people that call this University home is the best way to do it.
Emily Houston is a sophomore double-majoring in English and political science.