UNL ponders UNMC’s smoking ban

In August, the University of Nebraska Medical Center became a smoke-free campus.

No one could smoke anywhere on campus, no matter what the distance from the buildings or other people.

The same ban could potentially be implemented at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

The ban in place at UNMC isn't serving as a model, but rather a source of information for the Association of Students of the University of Nebraska's ad-hoc smoking committee, which is in the process of looking at possible smoking ban policies, said Sarah Williams, committee co-chair and junior arts and sciences major.

The student senate at UNMC had been trying to implement a smoking ban for several years, said Mohammad Siahpush, UNMC professor and co-chair of the tobacco-free campus committee. There, the committee was created when a student made a request to the student senate.

"The reason for (the smoking ban) is to create a healthy, safe environment for students, faculty, patients and volunteers," Siahpush said.

UNL's ad-hoc committee is planning to poll the student body and faculty, talk to other committees and meet with focus groups to determine what route to take. The committee could draft a proposal to ban smoking overall, increase the allowed distance from 10 feet to 25 feet away from buildings or create smoking zones on campus.

Depending on the results of the survey, the committee will decide its plan of action.

"We haven't decided that far in advance," Williams said. "We will see what happens at that point."

Williams had a meeting with the UNMC student senate president earlier this year regarding the potential ban at UNL. One of the aspects Williams liked was the increased education on quitting smoking.

At UNMC, once the ban was put in place, the school offered services for smokers who wanted to use the ban as motivation to quit. Around 70 percent of those who smoke want to quit, Siahpush said.

"Some people probably quit because of (the ban)," Siahpush said.

A problem the UNL committee has foreseen is enforcement. At UNMC, signs were put up around campus to inform people about the ban, but there hasn't been any formal enforcement of the policy, which Siahpush calls a "self-enforced policy."

"If we do see someone smoking, we think it would be good to approach them, and maybe give them a call to tell them what the policy is," Siahpush said. "And if they want to quit, to tell them about the resources."

One of the reasons UNL isn't using the UNMC ban as an exact replica is because of the differences between the two campuses, Williams said.

"UNMC is not a model," Williams said. "They are a different institution, and because they are a medical center it is different from a public university."

At UNMC, the overall ban has worked, Siahpush said. Though he still sees smokers occasionally, there are a lot less on campus.

"There used to be a group who used to smoke right outside a building," Siahpush said. "We don't see them anymore."

One of the reasons that there is less smoking is that the ban is widely known, Siahpush said, and people "feel bad doing it." Another is that faculty members could potentially jeopardize their employment if caught smoking on campus.

"I can definitely say there is a whole lot less smoking," Siahpush said. "You still see it, but a lot less."

paigecornwell@dailynebraskan.com