The EMU Board of Directors on Wednesday upheld the decision to sell tobacco products in the EMU, a sharp contrast to the University Bookstore’s decision last month to eliminate sales.
The University Bookstore board of directors decided Dec. 4 that selling tobacco is unethical and discontinued sales Friday. But the majority of EMU Board members disagreed Wednesday. They saw it as an issue of choice — and finances.
Tobacco products will still be sold at the EMU convenience store Erb Essentials. EMU board members voted 10-4 to reject a motion to end sales at the store.
At the bookstore, where cigarette sales make up less than 1 percent of total annual sales, directors made their decision based largely on the health risks associated with smoking, bookstore general manager Jim Williams said.
“We know — I know — that cigarettes kill people,” he said. “Why would you sell something that you know kills people?”
EMU Board Chairwoman Christa Shively disagreed. Erb Essentials does not advertise or encourage students to smoke, she said, and students can make their own decision as to whether they want to buy tobacco products.
“For me, it’s not an issue of morals or ethics,” she said. “It’s an issue of choice.”
Before the meeting, board members examined information about tobacco sales policies at other Pacific-10 Conference schools. Board member Jake Holcombe argued that the EMU — which makes nearly $30,000 a year from tobacco sales — had more to lose than schools that have halted campus tobacco sales.
“No one else was stuck between a rock and a hard place like we are,” he said. “No one else was facing the fiscal repercussions we are.”
The board’s decision ends a debate that began in October when biology professor V. Pat Lombardi asked the board to end tobacco sales in the EMU. The board discussed the issue at two meetings and tabled debate for the second time in early November.
Lombardi, who could not attend Wednesday’s meeting, said he was disappointed the board put financial concerns before concerns about student health.
“I think it’s a travesty (the board) voted to (continue selling tobacco)” he said. “To me, it’s unbelievable that the UO would share in the profits of Philip Morris and use that to support students.”
Williams said he sympathized with the difficulty of the EMU board’s situation because of the financial importance of tobacco sales to Erb Essentials. Tobacco sales’ small financial impact on the bookstore made it easier for the bookstore board to focus on the moral issues involved, he said.
Few customers have complained about the new policy so far, bookstore main floor cashier supervisor Chris Boyd said.
“I’ve had more positive comments than negative,” he said. “(People) read the memo, and go ‘all right, it’s about time,’” he said.
E-mail student activities editor Kara Cogswell at [email protected].