Northern talks about campus tobacco ban

Montana State University-Northern Student Senate had an open forum about the smoking or tobacco ban that may be in the works for the university.

The conversation was organized by Student Senate in order to gain a better understanding of what the students at the university want to happen for their campus in terms of tobacco use.

“The Student Senate is the voice of the students on campus and that’s basically the main reason we’re having this forum,” said Andrew Potter, the president of Student Senate. “We’d like to find out things you guys care about, things that you’re concerned with and find out your voice on various issues so that we can better represent you.”

The main event of the night, however, was the conversation about the push to make the campus tobacco-free, or at least smoke-free. Few people who supported banning tobacco showed up to the meeting, but many supporters of keeping the campus tobacco-friendly were present.

Sherry Kegel, the director of student health services, spoke to the audience about the health risks of using tobacco and urged them to quit. She added that smoking on campus affects others needlessly.

“We are going to try, for everyone’s health, to make it smoke-free at least,” Kegel said.

Janice Griebel, part of the two-person BACCHUS Network team, is the main figure behind collecting information from students about how they feel about the smoking ban. BACCHUS Network is an initiative that focuses on student health.

“We want to promote a healthy campus,” Griebel said. “Tobacco has become our number one issue, because you see it everywhere.”

Griebel pointed out that every other bigger college in Montana has made the move to making their campuses smoke and tobacco free.

When asked how the smoking or tobacco ban would be enforced, Griebel and Potter said the logistics of how the ban would work had not been worked out, but Griebel suggested using the technique employed by the Bozeman campus, which is a three-strike system at the end of which a monetary fine is issued.

Professor Trygve “Spike” Magelssen said he supported the campus remaining a tobacco-friendly campus.

He said he is a former smoker, but believes he and his students should be able to smoke on campus if they choose to.

“Who has the right to tell me I can’t smoke outside?” Magelssen said. “If I want to smoke outside, I should be able to smoke outside.”

Magelssen said that if there were a ban on smoking, it would be further “whittling away at our civil liberties.”

Potter spoke again to reiterate that this was just an open forum to find what the students, faculty and staff of the university want.

“As the Student Senate, we’re not going to be forcing this on anyone,” Potter said. “At this point, we are just simply seeing how you feel about it. This is an initiative that they would like to see us do, but it can’t be something that is forced on you. It has to be voted on by a majority of the student body.”

Potter added that there is nothing the senate can do toward making the campus tobacco or smoke free unless 80 percent of the student body votes in favor of it. He also urged that if people want to make a difference, they need to participate in the vote and consider running for a Student Senate seat.