By Kenny Sokan, News Correspondent
Northeastern’s smoke-free campus initiative committee reconvened on Wednesday to review feedback from students, the faculty senate and other universities around the country.
Terry Fulmer, dean of the Bouve College of Health Sciences, and John Auerbach, director of the Institute on Urban Health Research, are co-chairs of a committee comprised of students, faculty and staff looking into the possibility of implementing a smoke-free campus policy.
On Feb. 20, the initiative committee met for the first time since a town hall forum last month. The purpose of the meeting was to review input from the previous forum and a faculty senate meeting last week, as well as analyze feedback from letters sent to the more than 1,000 schools with similar policies already implemented. The goal was to make sure the committee members were familiar with the main issues that were raised in the different settings, Auerbach said.
The information from the multiple colleges and universities with smoke-free policies was especially helpful to the committee, Auerbach said. Through the experiences of other schools, the committee learned what might be appropriate in terms of widespread education, when the new policy could go into effect and an effective timeline for implementation so that there can be training and posting of signs to educate the campus.
“We found it helpful to hear that feedback because people asked us to find out that type of information,” Auerbach said.
The proposal moved to the faculty senate Feb. 13, continuing the initiative committee’s efforts to gather feedback on the issue.
Some faculty senators expressed concern over the issues of a campus-wide ban, as well as the disruption such a policy would cause in the lives of people at Northeastern.
“People are outside in a public space — we are an open campus — and we are telling them what they cannot do,” said faculty senate member Lori Lefkovitz, the director of Jewish Studies, according to an online report from News @Northeastern. “It feels beyond paternalistic to tell an adult staff or faculty member or a student that they cannot smoke.”
Despite concerns over the effects the policy might have on the daily lives of smokers on campus, the faculty senate voted unanimously to support the university continuing its push for the campus-wide ban.
At the meeting Wednesday, the committee discussed a timeline for when they hope to develop and complete a report and deliver recommendations regarding the policy. They are still shooting for April, Auerbach said. A follow-up town hall meeting is tentatively scheduled for March 19, but is not yet finalized.
During the next several months the committee will continue to gather information and feedback.
“I think that allowing students, staff and faculty a chance to weigh in and raise their concerns and support is a healthy thing,” Auerbach said. “I look forward to continuing to work with the committee to sort through input and consider all the information we are gathering from other colleges and universities and come up with recommendations for April.”
