SGA Votes on Tobacco Free Campus

Concord University students, faculty, and staff received a survey in their emails recently asking for general opinions regarding tobacco on campus. The survey asked participants whether or not they believed that Concord University should have a tobacco free campus. As announced in a Student Government Association meeting on February 8, the survey came back with a clear majority in favor of a tobacco free campus.

    Sarah Fancher, Vice President of SGA and chair of the Concord Student Activities Committee (CUSAC), announced that the survey had a overwhelming response compared to other circulated surveys around the school.

    The survey yielded 510 responses, 284 of which were yeses in favor of a tobacco free campus. A reported 145 said ‘no,’ and 81 said ‘it doesn’t matter.’

    In response to the survey results, Fancher and CUSAC brought a proposal before the Student Government Association to take a vote; if the concept of a tobacco free campus was met with positivity, Fancher and CUSAC would take it to higher committees for their individual votes.

    Students in attendance answered the proposition with much discussion and debate. However, the final vote yielded a two-thirds majority in favor of bringing the concept to Faculty Senate and further on to the Board of Governors, who will make the final decision on the matter of implementing policy.

    SGA Officers reminded those in attendance that the idea of implementing a tobacco free campus had been circulating for approximately five years. Fancher also listed several other West Virginia colleges and universities that had successfully implemented policies to ensure tobacco free campuses.

    Morgan Bibbee, senior at Concord University, is in absolute favor of the idea of the policy. “I think it’s a great idea!” she states. “I went to WVU for my first year of college and they had just started that, and it was so nice. Everything was so much cleaner. I get that if someone wants to smoke that they should be able to, but in turn I don’t want my health compromised for someone’s choice that’s beyond my volition. It would honestly just make the quality of campus so much better.”

    One concern raised in the meeting was the possibility of smoking areas for smokers to use so that they would not have to walk off campus, away from their classes, in order to smoke. Bibbee agrees that this would be a great idea, “as long as they are located in ideal locations. Not too close to campus but not too far to be a huge inconvenience.”

    On the opposite end of the spectrum, Sierra Neubert, also a senior at Concord, points out that this might affect admissions. “I think that having a tobacco free campus isn’t a friendly idea for anyone. I feel like it would make students even less likely to come to Concord. I just think that the more restriction Concord places on students the less likely students are to attend the campus. It doesn’t have enough redeeming qualities to make up for the loss of freedom,” she states.

    The final decision will most likely be announced mid-April of this year.