67 percent of GCSU population in favor of smoke-free campus

The results of an online survey regarding the no-smoking proposal are finally in. With an estimated majority of 67 percent, GCSU students surveyed appear to be in favor of the newly proposed policy. But what does this mean? And when, if ever, will it come into effect?

Greg Brown, the associate director of Auxiliary Services at GCSU, has played a large role in the awareness and organization of the proposal.

“Last year we were going to vote on the matter, but we did not have enough data,” Brown said. “We had asked students what they would say if a survey was brought forth, but never actually did so.”

This year they did, marking one of the few times that students were able to voice their opinions through their myCATS account. Those taking the survey were given two choices: To keep the smoking policy as it or to implement a new one in which smoking is allowed only in select areas, including mainly parking lots and other, small locations around campus.

The polling lasted from Aug. 29 until Oct. 29.

“I completed the survey when it was available,” Daniel Horseman, a sophomore Outdoor Education major, said. “It was very convenient. Now I just hope that the students voted the way I did.”

Many students did vote in agreement with Horseman, but it will take more time to decide exactly what may happen regarding the proposal in the future. The same smoking proposal that has lasted from around this time last year needs at least one more week, as the Resources, Planning, and Institutional Policy Committee must endorse it before turning it over to the University Senate.

Kayla McCollam, vice president of the Student Government Association and one of only two student representatives in the otherwise faculty filled University Senate, does not disagree with the proposal.

“I think it is a fair compromise,” McCollam said. “Before President Dorothy Leland can sign it off it must go through two more organizations, but I do think the proposal itself gets smokers away from those who are bothered by them while still understanding that we are adults and can choose to smoke if we wish, even if only in designated areas.”

Georgia Military College, also located in Milledgeville, is already smoke-free.

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Nov 6 2009. Filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry