Smokers on campus are at risk. Not a health risk but a different one that might ban their smoking privileges from MSU’s campus.
Tristan Worthington, a junior at MSU and the president of the Anti-Cancer Society, created this petition online and already has about 1,500 signatures. Worthington said there isn’t a minimum amount of signatures they need before they present their results to the school’s board of trustees next semester.
The petition has found resistance from smokers who don’t want to give up their smoking privileges while they are on campus.
“That would just be a pain in the butt,” said Matthew Miller, an MSU senior.
“That’s an unreasonable expectation,” commented another smoker.
The biggest complain from smokers is the long distances they would have to walk in the cold weather to smoke. For example, someone who lives in Wilson Hall would have to walk about a quarter mile to Harrison Road and be off MSU territory.
Worthington says the biggest issue with the current policy is the lack of enforcement. Current rules state that smokers have to be at least 25 feet from buildings.
Worthington added, “That’s totally not enforceable, people see all the time people smoking outside of entrances and exits and that’s really what we’ve been getting a lot of complaints about.”
Miller said that banning smoking seems impossible.
“Banning smoking on the entire campus, is I think out of the question,” said Miller.
7 Big Ten schools currently have a smoke free campus.
The petition can be found at the website change.org by typing in the words “MSU Smoking.”