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URI To Ban Smoking In Campus Dorms
Brown Daily Herald
. Providence, RI
Monday, December 4, 2000
Smokers who live on campus at the University of Rhode Island may soon have to choosen between their habit and housing.
The university is banning smoking in campus housing beginning June 1.
School officials want to reduce the number of building fires and provide a healthier environment for the 3,600 students who live on the South Kingstown campus.
Some students who smoke say they will adjust but others believe the ban unfair.
"It's stupid," said Rachel Burdi, a University of Rhode Island freshman. "I'll live off campus."
Junior Blythe Londy, chairperson of URI's Student Affairs Committee, said the ban is "kind of another step in taking away students' rights." The residence halls "are their homes," said Londy, who smokes but lives off campus.
Freshman Jasmine Moorehead doesn't expect a problem.
"I go outside to smoke, just because it bothers people," she told The Providence Sunday Journal. "It's not that hard to do."
School officials say the threat of building fires can't be ignored.
"Without question, the potential exists for fire to occur from the careless use of cigarettes," said Chip Yensan, URI's director of residential life.
"We believe that this is another important step in reshaping our community, making it a safer and better place for our new culture for learning," URI President Robert L. Carothers said. Five years ago he banned alcohol at campus events.
Smoking is already banned in classrooms, administrative offices and some renovated residences.
Carothers noted URI houses the Cancer Prevention Research Center. Its programs have helped people in Great Britain, Australia, Germany, the Netherlands and Canada quit smoking.
Students - who spent $6,645 a year to live in the university's brick dormitories - learned of the ban last week.
The ban comes at a time when more students than ever are lighting up.
About one-third of the nation's college students are using tobacco products, according to the Harvard School of Public Health.
At URI, about 10 percent of the incoming students smoke, said Roger Jadosz, health educator at URI's Student Health Services. That number jumps to about 30 percent after four years of campus life - including parties, drinking and peer pressure, Jadosz said.
"There's a lot of social smoking," he said. Many students ignore the health risks, including cancer, "because at age 18 to 24, you're immortal," he said.
Three years ago, Salve Regina University banned smoking in its dorms. And this fall, the University of New Hampshire and the University of Delaware banned smoking in campus residences.
"I see no problem with it," said URI sophomore Jamie Bell, who is trying to quit smoking. "If it entails going outside, it could curtail smoking."
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