The Associated Student Body hosted a town hall meeting to discuss the campus-wide smoking ban Wednesday night.
At the beginning, information was given to the audience in regard to the reasoning behind the smoking ban, after which the floor was opened for questions, comments and concerns.
The reason behind the new smoking ban was the overall health of the students at the university.
A survey was given by students on campus last year to determine how they would feel about a smoke-free campus.
“Out of 14,000 plus students on campus, only 650 responded to the survey,” said Jessica Brouckaet, a public policy sophomore and director of health promotion on campus. “Within the 650 survey participants, 76 percent of them wanted Ole Miss to be a smoke-free campus.”
Brouckaet, one of the authors for the smoking ban policy, repeatedly informed the audience that there was an effort made to inform others about the survey, so he or she could vote.
“The survey was sent through the Ole Miss website and The DM,” she said.
The ASB Senate is encouraging others to give their feedback on the new ban.
Camp Best, student advocate for Student Affairs, explained how the university will control the negative feedback.
“The senate provides forms that people can fill out to express his or her feelings regarding any issue,” Best said.
Among the members of the audience were many people not in favor of the new smoking ban.
Connor Hagan, a history senior, is unsure which side he is on.
“I enjoy walking on campus without worrying about catching smoke; however, I do think that the university took away a right that the students and faculty members have,” he said.
“Now that everyone knows of the new ban, there should be another survey.”
As far as what is next in regard to the new smoke-free campus, Daniel Roberts, public policy junior, said the plans are to inform students and make sure everyone is aware of what is going on.
“The next step is going to be enforcement,” he said.
As of Jan. 1, 2013, citations will be given out to violators of the campus-wide smoking ban.
