‘I think the policy is good for less cigarette butts lying around, but at the same time, it’s just politics. It’s an easy win. It’s a quick way to boost your resume and to make USG look good.’
As of January 10, the University of Southern California has joined the nationwide movement to become a smoke-free campus. Over 1,500 colleges are considered smoke and tobacco-free, including all University of California schools.
The new smoke-free policy prohibits all forms of smoking such as cigarettes, cigars, electronic cigarettes, hookah and marijuana.
Before the policy, the school employed designated “smoke-free” areas. However, the days of poorly enforced rules are over with the refusal to comply resulting in “appropriate disciplinary action.”
Scary, I know.
Smoking will not be tolerated in or near any university owned and operated buildings, which includes our friendly neighbors on the row. USC states, “this policy also applies to any property occupied by any fraternity or sorority officially recognized by the university.”
As USC adjusts to policy change, the student body is split. Although some students are barely aware of the rule’s existence, most everyone had something to say about it.
Lekha Chirala, 18, Health Promotion and Disease Prevention
“I definitely think USC needs it because people want to smoke in areas where there’s student traffic like the library. Why is there a need to smoke outside the library? Also, I think LA is very polluted, and if we’re trying to make our campus cleaner this is one step towards that.”
Sara Bang, 22, Psychology
“I like it cause sometimes when I’m walking there are cigarettes in the streets and they don’t clean it, so I feel like with a smoke-free policy you’ll see less cigarettes lying around. And secondhand smoke is really bad for you.”
Daniel Cohen, 19, International Relations
“I think the policy is good for less cigarette butts lying around, but at the same time, it’s just politics. It’s an easy win. It’s a quick way to boost your resume and to make USG look good. No one’s going say ‘hell no’ cause smoking’s bad for you and shit. Fining people is probably the only way to prevent it at this point.”
John David Remington, 21, Business Administration
“It’s a huge overreach of university policy. I think that smoking is pretty unhealthy for you, but at the same time, people in college should be able to chose what they want to do and they shouldn’t be told what not to smoke and what to smoke by the university…I think it’s going to piss a lot of people off, there are a ton of international students who like to smoke. It might increase stress levels for all I know.”
Kait Rhodes, 21, Communication
“I think its a good thing for health because if you smoke you can go out of your way to smoke but when you aren’t a smoker you can’t escape it. It won’t prevent smoking entirely, but the campus will be cleaner overall.”
Molly Bamberger, 19, Public Policy
“Tobacco is bad for you; weed is not! I agree with the policy because tobacco is really bad for you but if we’re talking about off campus then the policy shouldn’t be enforced. Greek life is on private property so it shouldn’t be considered.”
Joe Tanj, 27, Computer Science
“Personally, I don’t smoke so its hard to say whether or not smokers will accept this or not but its a good thing for people’s health.”
Katie Hayashi, 22, International Relations
“I support it because I don’t smoke so its nice not to have that around. At the same time, smoking is a big part of other cultures, and they might come here and feel alienated because they can’t smoke, so theirs always that side of it too.”
Suveer Bhatia, 20, Business Administration
“It’s their right to enforce it, but I didn’t even know about it until now cause people are still smoking on campus.”
Laura Knoedler, 20, Theatre
“I’d like to preface this by saying I appreciate and understand the thoughts behind this policy. There used to be smoke-free areas of campus, and I was like that’s cool, I can smoke elsewhere. But now… I don’t know. In terms of the row, people on their own property – in their own private living space – should be able to do what they want.”
When asked whether the policy would encourage her to stop smoking, Knoedler responded, “It already doesn’t even matter because I’m not 21 so California already did this to me. USC is just reinforcing this idea.”
USC’s new policy will undoubtedly be a challenge to enforce as the administration is scrambling to define “appropriate disciplinary action.” The Environmental Health and Safety Department is in charge of enforcement, but they are still in the process of working out logistics.
In time, the policy may prove beneficial. The point of the policy is to have a safe and healthy environment for all, and to discourage young students from smoking since those who start earlier have higher chances of addiction.
However, the policy is not foolproof. Imagining DPS chase after every student smoking during finals is entertaining, but unrealistic. Especially on the row which is outside USC’s main campus. USC should prepare themselves to deal with the consequences of isolating those who do smoke. Those who do will not necessarily quit, they will simply find somewhere else to go.
