With Ohio University’s smoking ban going into effect this semester, The Post’s executive editors think a revision to the policy would ensure people follow the rule.
Among the anxious parents and Ohio University students filing through campus for the first time in months (or the first time, ever) this weekend, we noticed something fairly routine: cigarette smoke.
The difference is that OU enacted a campus-wide smoking ban just a few weeks ago, snuffing out the possibility of students lighting up hookahs, cigarettes or e-cigs upon arrival. Frankly, we find ourselves agreeing with The Tobacco-Free Initiative — a campus not plagued with the scent of tobacco sounds excellent.
Hence, that’s why we’re frustrated there’s no way to really uphold it. Stopping smoking on campus currently relies on compliance from both faculty and students, adopting a “see something, say something” mantra. The problem is that many students might see something and feel uncomfortable being the one to point out the offender, especially since that offender has no incentive to stop smoking on campus.
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The City of Athens, meanwhile, has taken up the charge to limit certain smoker behaviors, such as disallowing the littering of cigarette butts on all Athens sidewalks, including Court St., according to a previous Post report. That offense is punishable by $50 fine.
It’s not illegal to smoke on sidewalks Uptown, though, and it would hardly be considered a stretch to think that university students who do choose to follow OU’s smoking ban wouldn’t just flock to Court Street, which simply moves the problem elsewhere. That’s especially true considering that OU will have no designated “smoking area” on campus.
If the university wants the ban to force people to stop smoking on campus, it must make it a punishable offense to some degree. No one will feel the need to stop smoking if they know that no disciplinary action will be taken against them.
Editorials represent the majority opinion of The Post's executive editors: editor-in-chief Emma Ockerman, managing editor Rebekah Barnes, Opinion Editor Will Gibbs and digital managing editor Samuel Howard. Post editorials are independent of the publication's news coverage.
