Smoke-Free Campus Modified by Students

For over a year now there have been a series of ongoing discussions concerning UR’s smoking policy. Within the past semester, however, junior Sheridan Finnie and seniors Sara Rothenberg and Catie Tarentine, who are leading the initiative, have begun to push for one which would outline a plan for a smoke-free campus save for a number of designated areas in which smoking would be allowed. Under the guidance of Director of the University Health Service Ralph Manchester and Associate Director of Health Promotion Linda Dudman, Finnie, Rothenberg and Tarentine initially aimed to implement a policy that would designate UR as entirely smoke free with no designated smoking areas, but after receiving feedback from students, faculty and staff, decided this new direction would make for a policy that would accommodate a larger majority of the University community. “We really felt this was an appropriate kind of compromise,” Rothenberg said. She explained that with a policy like this smokers will be able to continue to smoke, but that it would create a cleaner environment for those who do not. Dudman agreed. “I feel that at this point in time this is the best way for us to be proceeding,” she noted. Tarentine emphasized that this policy is in part all about accounting for different perspectives at the University.