Calling it quits at Memorial

With pressure being applied, will MUN become entirely smoke-free?

By Kenny Sharpe

The majority of smokers at Memorial University’s St. John’s campus understand just how damaging cigarette smoke can be. Regardless, making the province’s largest post-secondary institution completely smoke-free come September may be something a little more difficult to take in.

In this province, 2010 has meant tighter restrictions on policies regarding where a smoker can and cannot smoke.

In March, the province’s largest health organization, Eastern Health, reminded employees, patients, and visitors that smoking was no longer permitted on or around any of the organization’s property, including the Health Sciences Center (HSC).

More recently, earlier this spring, Newfoundland and Labrador’s largest college, The College of the North Atlantic (CNA), banned smoking for both students and staff at all of its 17 campuses.

With Memorial literally stuck in the middle—CNA on one side, the HSC on the other—how will student smokers fair on this campus?

Kevin Coady, from the Newfoundland and Labrador Alliance for the Control of Tobacco, says the move was made a few years ago to ban smoking outside some doorways on campus at Memorial, after discussions were had between his group and administration with the university.

While Coady believes this was a step towards a smoke-free campus, he says more needs to be done for students' health, despite the challenges.

“We are not happy with [only some doors being smoke-free at Memorial]. We don’t think that that goes far enough, and we don’t think that when students have to rush from class to class that they have time to take the choice of looking for the smoke-free door,” said Coady. “We think at the very least they have to get it away from doors and windows so that people have smoke-free air outside and inside the building.”

“We would love to see it go to a smoke-free campus,” said Cody, “but we see that as being a big challenge.”

Many campuses across Canada already consider themselves smoke-free, with Dalhousie University being the first to call it quits in 2003.

Coady says that given the number of students and staff who smoke, Memorial going completely smoke-free come September would be difficult, but there are other numbers which are far more troubling.

“From our view, 80 per cent of the province are non smokers…[a] key thing that students have to realize is that one in every two smokers will die prematurely from a tobacco related disease,” said Coady. “We think that that is a startling statistic that 19-, 20-, 21-, and 22-year-olds don’t pay much attention to.”

Coady says the last serious conversation about going smoke-free between his group and the university occurred about a year ago and that given the momentum regarding the topic, fuelled by such new policies like those at the HSC and CNA, Coady would like to return to the discussion table.

“We really believe, now that The College of the North Atlantic has made such a move, the university should revisit the idea, with a view of setting up a perimeter ban at the very least at all door and entrance ways.”

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