President David Schmidly's smoke-free initiative is in the beginning stages of implementation.
Pug Burge, co-chair of the Smoke-Free Environment committee, said the group is giving the UNM community an opportunity to be a part of the process.
The committee has scheduled two forums for February, she said, where the group will introduce ideas for what the smoke-free policy could look like. The committee will use community feedback to decide which policy to move forward with.
The committee is first looking to decide whether UNM will be smoke-free or tobacco-free. Burge said the group made a list of the pros and cons for each scenario.
Committee member Vernon Hershberger, who works in Safety & Risk Services, said there are drawbacks to prohibiting smoking on campus.
"A total smoking ban on campus concentrates the secondhand smoke hazard to the nearest campus perimeter, and that is not being a good neighbor, in my opinion," he said in an e-mail. "If not on the perimeter, then the addictive smoking may take place in hidden areas that could create new odor problems or fire hazards."
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The committee is considering building smoking corridors on campus, Burge said, but they haven't decided whether designated smoking areas would be effective. She said they also haven't decided where corridors could be placed.
Committee members were reluctant to vote for smoking areas because the expense of upkeep and construction could be too costly, Burge said. Also, passersby would still have to deal with secondhand smoke, she said.
Hershberger said the committee is still forming proposals that use smoking corridors as components of the SFE policy.
"The approach should include having a few designated smoking areas across campus, that the campus planners help select, (which) are far enough from normally (occupied) areas," he said. "That way, the secondhand smoke hazards are minimized while still providing proper infrastructure to safely dispose of cigarette butts that might otherwise wash into the river via storm water or create campus fire hazards."
Student Carlos Vigil, a nonsmoker, said he doesn't see a benefit in banning smoking on campus.
"People should be able to smoke if they want to - it really doesn't upset me, and I'm not too sure why UNM wants to make campus smoke-free," he said. "As long as (smokers are) outside, I don't really see what the harm is."
Burge said the committee will hold off on a decision until it gets feedback from students and employees.
Burge said few students have attended the committee's meetings and that the group, which is supposed to include members from Greek organizations, does not want to make decisions on the matter until there is more student input.
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