The Park Student Government Association, otherwise known as PSGA, is looking for student feedback about possible changes to the current Park University smoking policy – which could include a campus-wide ban.
“This was an initiative of Brian Ciolek (former wellness, strength, and conditioning coordinator),” said Mika Mahyenga, junior in economics and PSGA president. “He brought it to the Senate, so when he proposed it we had to adapt it. My concern was how would students react, I’m not the president of not smokers only, I’m the president of smokers too so that was my concern.”
At the moment, a survey was developed to discover what students and administrators thought about a completely non-smoking campus, which is the first step in the process.
“We had to do some research and debating and we came up with data of other schools,” said Mahyenga. “After some time we had a meeting with Jamie Uden, we walked through it and we said we are going to go for it, we also met with the provost and the president.”
The survey is still open to Park University students and administrators; however, Mahyenga shared some information about it.
“We don’t know exactly all the answers yet but I went online to see graphics for now,” he said. “And what students have voted, the majority of students are accepting the policy so if we see the figures statistically at the moment the policy would go thought. It’s just an anticipation.”
According to Jamie Uden, associate dean of student life, no implementation or any action has been taken yet, only a survey has been posted.
“We don’t know what we’re implementing,” he said. “We’re just asking questions now. Once we get back the results, we’ll figure out what they say and then we figure out what we do. There’s a possibility of a smoke-free campus but it all depends on what students want.”
According to Uden, almost every campus in Missouri is smoke free, however, according to Mahyenga, they won’t take action based on the survey results.
“We want to see what’s affecting students, and almost 98 percent of Saudi Arabian students smoke,” said Mahyenga. “I’ve had a lot of meetings with everyone trying to do this as kindly and slowly as we can to make park a better place for everyone.”
The next steps in this process include senators talking to students on campus to get their prospective on this issue; the senate will vote; and finally students will make their official vote.
For now, the smoking policy at Park University is 50 feet from a building, according to Christopher Loos, director of campus safety.
“(Campus safety’s) aspect is what do we enforce,” he said. “And now its 50 feet from the building. The enforcement is what we are responsible for.”
Loos said daily complaints are received regarding smokers and the best way is to make the policy clear for everyone.
“Really, what it’s all about is to look at what the smoking policy is,” he said. “How we can make this easy for everyone to understand, how can we identify what’s allowed and what is not. So it’s trying to find a balance, trying to find something that it’s going to clearly identify what the best route is to go with it.”
Senior Jenny Clark, who is a major, said she would not be in favor of a campus-wide ban. Clark completed the survey and encouraged other people to do so as well.
“I don’t think it’s right,” she said. “I think that we pay tuition and as long as there’s designated areas we should be able to smoke. Park is considered a military university and there are veterans and active duty members. We smoke to calm our nerves and I think it would be a very bad idea and I don’t think people will really listen.”
