Campus-wide tobacco ban conversation continues one year later

The University of Houston-Clear Lake (UHCL) officially implemented a campus-wide tobacco-free policy Aug. 1, 2018. In the year since the student-enforced policy went into effect, UHCL has seen a significant decline in on-campus smoking.

The tobacco-free policy banned all forms of tobacco products, including e-cigarettes, vapes, cigars, hookahs, pipes and any other smokeless tobacco products.

When the tobacco ban was announced, the responses varied across campus.

“I feel like the tobacco ban was met with generally mixed reviews,” said Izuh Ikpeama, recent alumnus and former 2018-2019 Student Government Association President. “Those who don’t like smoking, to begin with, were in favor of the ban, and those who smoked on-campus didn’t want to lose the ability to do that, which is fair.”

Some were in favor of the tobacco ban, with concerns about second-hand smoke and those effects on others.

In a poll conducted in September 2018 by The Signal, Nicole Baker, biology major, was in favor of the campus-wide tobacco ban.

“I appreciated not walking through a cloud of smoke to enter the buildings and the entrances are less congested due to it also,” Baker said.

Alternatively, the tobacco ban received some backlash from those who felt that it was restrictive.

“My initial reaction to the ban was negative,” said RJ Davis, assistant professor and counselor educator. “I felt it was discriminatory and only being done as an additional marketing ploy.”

At nearly one year later, the tobacco ban still receives some criticism.

“I get that people don’t like second-hand smoke, which is why I feel like changing the smoking area would have been a good compromise, but nobody wanted to even negotiate,” said Colden Snow, academic advisor for the College of Human Sciences and Humanities.

The nature of the tobacco ban also continues to raise concerns regarding personal choice.

“I still feel like it is unfair and that the loudest people who were primarily non-smokers were listened to the most,” Snow said.

In addition to the concerns about the policies restrictiveness, some feel that the tobacco ban has affected traffic and connectivity in certain areas.

“I believe there has been an impact,” Davis said. “In some ways, smoking was a social activity that others could share or connect, everybody needs that opportunity.”

The impact the ban has had on social activity has been echoed from others as well.

“The biggest change I’ve noticed is that the patio seems to be dead,” Ikpeama said. “Many non-smokers were upset they couldn’t sit out on the patio or walk near it without there being smoke, however, instead of negotiating a new spot for smokers, the patio is hardly utilized since the ban went into effect.”

The student-enforced tobacco ban has seen a reduction in on-campus smoking; however, the restrictiveness of the policy may cause this conversation to continue beyond one year.

“The personal decision for a student, faculty or staff member to smoke is just that, personal, and I feel like those that don’t smoke shame the smokers,” Snow said. “This was their final act, banning it from campus, other than in a vehicle – which assumes everybody on campus has access to a vehicle, which everyone does not.”