Lax enforcement of smoking rules at King's: prof

Some faculty members feel the school's smoking policies aren't being enforced properly and would prefer a complete ban.

Both students and faculty tend to congregate and smoke either near or on the front steps of the main entrance to King's College. Photo: Nicolas Bergeron

Emily Tector can't open her only office window at the University of King's College for fear that cigarette smoke will drift in from the quad. Cigarette butts are often strewn underneath a small "No Smoking" plaque that's fastened to her windowsill. Smokers tend to gather here, especially when it rains.

Tector is the project co-ordinator for Situating Science, a science research initiative at the university. Her office is at the top of the steps to the left of the school's main entrance. Despite a complete ban on the neighbouring Dalhousie University campus, King's still allows smoking. 

"It's obviously a public health issue, but it personally impacts me in that it makes me dizzy - so I can't really open the window," she says. "Even if they're not on the steps, smoke still gets carried in."

The school's Residence Guidelines and Policies state that students can smoke in the quad, but have to stay well away from doors, steps and windows. Tector has posted a large green sign on her window quoting the policy, but many students still ignore it and little is being done to enforce the rule. She recently wrote a letter to the university's Occupational Health and Safety Committee addressing the issue, but has yet to hear back.

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Although "No Smoking" signs are posted in all the windows around the main entrance to King's College, many smokers tend to ignore them. Photo: Nicolas Bergeron

Stephen Snobelen, an associate professor of humanities at King's, thinks the vice should be banned completely.

"I know I have colleagues who are smokers and not everyone agrees with this position. But I think it's time to join the rest of the thinking world," says Snobelen, a graduate of the now smoke-free University of Victoria. 

Both Snobelen and Tector believe a complete ban would be the most effective solution to the problem, but at least one faculty member openly disagrees.

Laura Penny is a sessional lecturer for the Foundation Year and Contemporary Studies programs at King's. She smokes on campus and isn't about to quit.

"I would understand if you couldn't park a diesel exhaust truck here for 10 minutes, or if there weren't cars everywhere," she says while smoking a cigarette in the quad. "But it seems a little hypocritical for people to drive and then get angry at smokers."

At least she follows the rules.

This year, the Non-Smoker's Rights Association, a national lobby group, released a tobacco-free campus guide pushing for tobacco-free universities in Canada. The provincial government also released a comprehensive tobacco-control strategy in April, with a more general aim of reducing smoking in the province.

Canadian institutions such as Holland College in Prince Edward Island have already banned smoking completely. Others, such as Thompson Rivers University in British Columbia, have set up designated smoking areas.

Gabe Hoogers, president of the King's Student Union, says the student government is "hoping to work with various groups . . . to encourage student health in general."

He acknowledges there is a smoking culture at King's and some students see it as intellectual. Post-lecture smoking circles with profs are a common sight.

According to Statistics Canada's 2010 Canadian Tobacco Use Monitoring Survey, overall smoking rates have decreased in the past decade, but young adults between the ages of 20-24 still smoke more than any other demographic.

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