Coalition of On-Campus Smokers founder Lyzi Diamond and ASUO President Amelie Rousseau were at odds Thursday afternoon when they held opposing demonstrations related to the issue of a smoking ban on campus in the EMU Amphitheater.
These demonstrations come in light of the University’s Department of Student Affairs receiving an $800,000 grant promoting the Healthy Campus Initiative, some of which will go to implement a smoke-free campus. PacificSource Health Plans awarded the grant to the University in order to kick-off the initiative, which covers not only smoking, but physical activity and healthy eating practices as well. The University is implementing the grant’s funds over the next five years. PacificSource also gave a grant to Oregon State University to start a similar initiative.
In response to the grant and Rousseau’s visible support for the idea of a smoke-free campus, Diamond and the Coalition of On-Campus Smokers held a “smoke-in” in the EMU Amphitheater. The event was an attempt by Diamond and COCS to encourage campus conversation by smoking for 30 minutes and then picking up cigarette butts for the following 30 minutes.
“I think that the whole point of COCS was to get people to talk about the issue and understand the issue,” Diamond said. “And sure, the group, insofar as the fact that we are smokers or allies of smokers, has a viewpoint. But we want to express that viewpoint, and we want to engage in conversation with people who have different viewpoints.”
When Rousseau, with peer health educators and the Student Health Advisory Committee, heard about Diamond’s “smoke-in” demonstration, she started organizing the “smoke-out,” in which students who are pro-smoking cessation held signs with information about the issues concerning tobacco use on-campus.
Rousseau said they started the event to show that a majority of students support a smoke-free campus.
“Ninety-five percent of students are not daily smokers … we wanted to show the student body that we care about health, and we want campus to be accessible to everyone,” Rousseau said.
She said she hopes with the implementation of a smoke-free campus, that accessibility opens up for people to receive an education regardless of health problems or abilities, and expressed concern that if the University continues to not be smoke-free, it will not be accessible to everyone.
“Nine percent of students have asthma, and so for those students who have to breathe in second-hand smoke on the way to class, it definitely prevents their ability to succeed in school,” Rousseau said.
University senior Simone Walter attended the “smoke-in” and was opposed to the signs and statistics used by the ASUO Executive.
“Until you can show me a definitive study that says that smoking in the outdoor air will cause all of these health risks, I’m not going to believe it,” Walter said. “The rhetoric the ASUO executive is using is fear-mongering.”
University Health Promotion Director Paula Staight defended the policy.
“This is a public health policy, not a demonizing smoker policy,” Staight said. “If we know one student having problems accessing campus, that’s one too many.”
Diamond said she would be alright with certain parts of campus being designated non-smoking and offered suggestions for moving forward, including putting smoking stations in areas with less students.
“Maybe create designated smoking areas. There’s a lot of parts of this campus where people don’t walk by,” Diamond said. “If someone were to say, ‘You know, you can’t smoke on 13th Avenue on campus,’ I actually would be fine with that. I think that that’s reasonable … There are a lot of parts of campus that are not as densely populated.”
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