Gov. Jim Doyle is expected to sign a ban on smoking inside or within 25 feet of state-owned residence halls on all University of Wisconsin campuses into law Friday.
The legislation also includes a $10 fine for violators of the ban.
The University of Wisconsin already forbids smoking inside campus dormitories and has banned smoking near the dorms for many years.
“We have been smoke-free for a long time,” Paul Evans, director of UW Housing, said of the Madison campus, adding he testified in favor of the smoking ban before the sub-committee considering the legislation. “I think it’s been good that we have not had smoking near the buildings.”
A Harvard study found that if residence halls do not permit smoking, teens are 44 percent less likely to become smokers.
However, the legislation will change UW housing’s current practice of designating a residence hall entrance where smokers can light up.
“All this new law would do is it would be 25-feet all along the building,” Evans said. “The only real impact will be we won’t be able to have that one entrance anymore.”
Evans indicated he did not foresee enforcement of the new regulations as a problem. However, utilizing the $10 fine to enforce the ban would be a change in UW policy, which has traditionally used other forms of discipline to deter smokers from smoking near residence halls.
The legislation, by taking the decision-making process out of the hands of student government, also changes the way in which smoking regulations near residence halls are determined. Currently, the Associated Students of Madison has a say about whether dorm-smoking bans are adopted or not.
ASM Student Council Chair Austin Evans said, although he favors the 25-foot ban, he finds state laws trumping the authority of student government troublesome.
“Students [should be] able to decide what is best for their campus…obviously this law is not a very good thing in that sense,” he said, adding that state lawmakers deciding rules for the entire University of Wisconsin system is not necessary.
“Why do you actually need to go across all 26 campuses? Why is that needed?” he asked.
A UW freshman smoker living in Kronshage Hall who did not wish to be identified said she understands why the ban on residence hall smoking is being enacted.
“I live in public housing. I understand not being able to smoke inside. That does not bother me at all,” she said, adding that as long as smokers are allowed to smoke 25 feet outside of residence halls, the legislation would not prove problematic for students who smoke.
She also indicated the $10 fine would deter her from defying the 25-foot ban.
“I’m a student. I’m poor. Ten dollars is two packs of cigarettes right there,” she said.
Although the freshman smoker said a dorm-smoking ban was understandable, she indicated that current proposals to outlaw smoking in city bars are going too far.
“Not smoking in bars is too much. Drinking and smoking just go hand and hand…I mean, what is the world coming to,” she said.
