2008 Woodie Awards
Tobacco poll gives Student Government input
29 percent of survey takers say UMaine should be smoke free
Heather Steeves
Issue date: 4/21/08 Section: News
In its first day, more than 830 University of Maine community members completed a tobacco survey conducted by Student Government (SG). After almost five days, when the survey closed, that number jumped to 1,031.
"That is huge. To get 1,000 people on this campus to do anything is huge," said Vice President of Student Entertainment Derek Mitchell. The survey's participation is higher than any recent SG election.
"I think the sheer number of students who took the time to have their voices heard show that this is an issue of great importance. An issue that requires full student participation in the process," SG President Steven Moran said.
SG created the survey to gauge student input on the potential tobacco ban. The Tobacco-Free Campus Committee (TFCC) has yet to gather input by a survey, according to Mitchell.
"Leaving this to the Tobacco-Free Campus is irresponsible," Mitchell said. "The committee is overwhelmingly in support of the ban." He said SG was able to work in an unbiased way, which he said the committee could not have. According to Mitchell, who acts as the student representative on the TFCC, the committee's name is proof of its bias.
The results show more than 60 percent of the participants have never smoked, but 67 percent said tobacco use should be allowed on campus. Of the participants 768 were students and 258 were faculty or staff.
"It is not a formal study, however as an opinion survey it does provide us with very valuable information as to what students, faculty, and staff think about tobacco use on campus. I hope that it will really change the perspective that the student voice doesn't really matter," said Moran.
The survey was thought up during Relay for Life. Two days later, SG sought approval from its lawyer and posted it on FirstClass 8 a.m. Monday.
"I believe the survey is invalid due to the way it was distributed, the type of questions, the lack of planning and forethought of a survey that was conceived of on a Friday night and sent out on a Sunday night by a person with no survey background who also serves on the Tobacco Free Campus Committee and knew the committee was planning to send out a survey the following week," said Director Alcohol and Drug Education Programs Lauri Sidelko.
"That is huge. To get 1,000 people on this campus to do anything is huge," said Vice President of Student Entertainment Derek Mitchell. The survey's participation is higher than any recent SG election.
"I think the sheer number of students who took the time to have their voices heard show that this is an issue of great importance. An issue that requires full student participation in the process," SG President Steven Moran said.
SG created the survey to gauge student input on the potential tobacco ban. The Tobacco-Free Campus Committee (TFCC) has yet to gather input by a survey, according to Mitchell.
"Leaving this to the Tobacco-Free Campus is irresponsible," Mitchell said. "The committee is overwhelmingly in support of the ban." He said SG was able to work in an unbiased way, which he said the committee could not have. According to Mitchell, who acts as the student representative on the TFCC, the committee's name is proof of its bias.
The results show more than 60 percent of the participants have never smoked, but 67 percent said tobacco use should be allowed on campus. Of the participants 768 were students and 258 were faculty or staff.
"It is not a formal study, however as an opinion survey it does provide us with very valuable information as to what students, faculty, and staff think about tobacco use on campus. I hope that it will really change the perspective that the student voice doesn't really matter," said Moran.
The survey was thought up during Relay for Life. Two days later, SG sought approval from its lawyer and posted it on FirstClass 8 a.m. Monday.
"I believe the survey is invalid due to the way it was distributed, the type of questions, the lack of planning and forethought of a survey that was conceived of on a Friday night and sent out on a Sunday night by a person with no survey background who also serves on the Tobacco Free Campus Committee and knew the committee was planning to send out a survey the following week," said Director Alcohol and Drug Education Programs Lauri Sidelko.
Viewing Comments 1 - 3 of 4
Christopher Battista
posted 4/21/08 @ 1:58 PM EST
Since when does the SG pay for a lawyer? I thought the University hired him.
Also, how do you trump a survey that wasn't yet conducted.
Matt
posted 4/22/08 @ 7:41 PM EST
I think the biggest problem with smoking on campus is that people don't follow the 30 foot smoking rule. Its when smoke is right in front of exits or travels into windows that this is a problem, and if the rules were followed, no one would really have to come into contact with second hand smoke, and no one would NEED a campus smoking ban. (Continued…)
jeff, arielle, sara, laney
posted 4/25/08 @ 3:07 PM EST
We believe that more then one study should be taken to see if the results would differ. Smoking isn't considered to be a bad thing by all, but for those who don't approve of smoking have their reasons. (Continued…)
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