Cloie Sandlin
News Editor

The use of tobacco products has been a hot topic for both students and staff at Mesa State College. Staff, faculty and the Associated Student Government at Mesa State have heard the student’s voices and have come to form a middle ground between smokers and nonsmokers alike.
As of March of this year, Mesa State’s current campus tobacco policy states in part, “the Trustees hereby prohibit the use of any tobacco product within 40 feet of any Mesa State College leased, owned, operated and controlled buildings.”
Prior to that, the policy was 30 feet.
“ASG really developed the policy,” said President Tim Foster. “They took it to the trustees and they said okay.”
According to ASG president, Nick Lopez, the issue began in 2009 when the ASG received numerous complaints from students about the tobacco users on campus.
In response, the ASG strategically went out and looked at areas where tobacco use was really prevalent.
“We decided that 40 feet in just about every case on campus from the exterior of a building would not only still provide a great area for people to use tobacco products but would also be out of the way of all entry ways. We thought it’d be a good compromise to do that,” said Lopez.
Once ASG received enough support for the issue from students, they handed the issue over to their internal committee who was responsible for thoroughly studying and researching the issue as well as for drafting all bylaw constitutional changes and policy on internal campus issues.
“It was a semester long process to draft initial legislation and present it to student government,” said Lopez.
The internal committee spent months talking to students and holding forums to research the issue. They eventually drafted three proposals: a complete ban on all tobacco products, the compromise that exists today or the previous policy. These proposals were projected to the student body for feedback. The internal committee voted on the issue and it was approved and sent to the ASG senate. The ASG then sent it to the Board of Trustees for final approval.
“[The trustees] made a very slight revision in terms of wording,” said Lopez, “but it is basically the same policy.”
The new policy went into effect on March 17.
“How ASG handled it was impressive,” said Foster. “It’s a great example how much everyone works together and how much confidence we have in students to make these decisions.”
Houston Hall was one of the main areas where tobacco use was a problem. ASG Vice President Dillon McMillen said that it is hard to say if the policy has been very effective since the area is fenced off for renovation, but he and Lopez said they have seen a noticeable difference in the amount of litter due to tobacco products on campus as well as the ability of tobacco users to recognize that there are students on campus that don’t always like those products.
But overall, they have received positive feedback.
“If you just walk around campus you can tell that people know there is a policy in place,” said McMillen. “They know that we’ve passed something. They may not know exactly what that policy is, but when they see the trash receptacles, they realize that those are the things they should be using to dispose of tobacco products. The next step of our process is utilizing ASG for educational purposes.”
McMillen said that one thing they think will also help students is the convenient placement of the receptacles.
“You’re going to have individuals that no matter what, will be anti the policy,” said Lopez. “The campus atmosphere has changed in terms of that relationship and people are recognizing that some kind of compromise needed to exist.”
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ccsandli@mesastate.edu