A thick cloud of confusion still surrounds the campus tobacco policy despite resolutions passed this semester by the Student Government Association and the Faculty Senate aimed to make the policy enforceable.

While an answer isn’t definite, Keith Lamb, vice president of student affairs and enrollment management, said administrators are listening.

“We fully intend to have improved enforcement with the fall 2015 term. We are currently considering different administrative options that will allow for effective enforcement,” Lamb said.

Lamb also said those administrative options would not require Board of Regents approval.

“The SGA resolution was not a change to the tobacco policy, it was simply asking MSU to enforce the existing policy,” Lamb said. “Had it requested the policy itself be changed, it would need Board approval.”

The wheels are in motion, but some on campus find the policy unfair because smoking, in the appropriate places, is legal.

“As a current smoker—although I need to quit—any policy that is in violation of state and federal law I find to be kind of ridiculous. Smoking is legal,” said Matt Singletary, assistant professor of theater.

Singletary said there should not be a problem if the smoker is following the local statutes that prohibit smoking indoors.

“Although, I’m a big fan of free enterprise, if the owner of the establishment wants to allow smoking within their establishment, that should be up to them, as opposed to being a law or ordinance,” Singletary said.

According to the Student Handbook, “smoking or other tobacco use, tobacco advertising, tobacco sales, and free distribution tobacco products are prohibited on the MSU campus.”

However, when it comes to imposing the policy, it is the responsibility of all members of the campus community to simply observe the provisions of it.

Even though Singletary was aware of the policy, since it is not enforced, he just chose to ignore it. When people happen to see him smoking, most joke about it. But once, someone was offended by his smoking and asked him if he knew about the policy.

“It’s not that I’m trying to be rude,” Singletary said. “But if I’m going to be here five to six hours a day, or like last semester 10, 12 to 14 hours a day, what am I supposed to do? Go out and huddle in my car? It’s not like it hinders my job performance,” Singletary said.

Singletary said even though smokers on campus are obeying the law that states they are allowed to smoke, it is looked at as something to be frowned upon. But, he adds, driving causes chemical harm too, which everyone seems to look the other way about.

“In any environment which requires the use of large amount of automobiles, the idea that my smoking a cigarette is going to cause you problems, but your giant truck which puts out tons upon tons of emissions is somehow “good for your health,” or not going to affect you at all, is ludicrous,” Singletary said. “Smoking is a stupid choice, but it is a legal choice. There is a lot worse I could be doing. Everyone is all like “second-hand smoke this, and second-hand smoke that,” but my cigarette is doing less damage than your 4X4.”

On Feb. 17, 2015, a resolution to update the enforcement of the tobacco policy on campus was filed in the Student Senate through the Student Government Association.

According to the SGA documentation of the minutes recorded on Feb. 17, the resolution was discussed and voted on. The changes were passed with 25 senators voting to make the policy enforceable, compared to 5 senators against it.

In the Faculty Senate, according to the minutes, the resolution to make the policy enforceable was approved five days before the SGA voted on it.

Marco Torres, psychology senior and SGA senator, was the the driving force behind the update to the campus tobacco policy.

“I reached out to both the faculty and the Staff Senate representatives and spoke to both groups,” Torres said. “It all started with a booth we had set up last October about what students wanted to see different on this campus. One of the things that kept being mentioned was why it says that we’re smoke-free, yet we’re not. From there, we saw that this is apparently an issue, so we decided to tackle it.”

From there, with the support of the Campus Cultural Committee, they started brainstorming about the best way to get the policy enforced and how it would be done.

“It came to being that if this is just the Student Senate, it’s not going to send a strong message,” Torres said. “We had to get the faculty and staff involved also. After we spoke, the Staff Senate gave immediate support, there was no objection. It was the Faculty Senate that actually voiced concerns in regard to the police department. The major concern was about how the policy would be enforced.”

Torres said Lamb told him the police have no choice but to enforce it if it is the university code of conduct.

“Essentially, the final wording stressed that we wanted to give administration the authority to make the policy enforceable in some way, somehow,” Torres said.

To be fair, Torres said he had approached smokers outside, too.

“I told them when we were meeting, and to round up supporters for smoking,” Torres said. “I thought maybe this was an issue that they might outnumber the non-smokers. I was very fair. But that didn’t happen. Students for smoking on campus did not show up to voice their concerns.”

Although, Torres said in the SGA discussion, some students did say that we should have designated smoking areas.

“Well, we are already designated as smoke-free campus, and we are not going to back down from that,” Torres said. “We are just making it so there are teeth behind it. We are trying to progress, not take a step back.”

In addition, Torres said that if the policy is enforced in the form of of fines, he hopes the money goes to Vinson Health Center.

“Tobacco really is an addiction,” Torres said. “I want to see students getting patches or Nicorette gum at a discounted rate. Obviously not for free because you have to take some kind of responsibility, but sell it at a very discounted rate to help students with this addiction.”

In June 2014, the Wichita Falls City Council amended the smoking policy through an ordinance that prohibits smoking inside any building within the city. Establishments opened after this change would have to adhere to the ordinance. But any operating smoking facilities that existed prior to the amendment may continue to allow smoking in their place of business until June 2016.

Michelle Tompkins, radiology junior, said she agrees with the city-wide ordinance to ban people from smoking inside establishments even though she used to be a smoker herself.

“I quit mainly for my health, because I have thyroid problems and I mean I didn’t smoke much anyway,” Tompkins said. “I don’t smoke around my kids, ever, because my parents smoked around me. And I fully believe that’s why I smoke, because I grew up with it.”

Tompkins said even if she was still a smoker, she would not partake on campus.

“I’m of the mind that if you don’t smoke, you shouldn’t have to be subjected to it. It shouldn’t be that big of a deal to wait until you are off campus to smoke,” Tompkins said. “There are plenty of outlets.”

Haley Bounds, finance freshman, agrees. She said not enforcing the policy on smoking is unfair to non-smokers that are subjected to secondhand smoke.

“I don’t mind the fact that they smoke, people should just be more considerate to those around them,” Bounds said. “There should not be any cigarette butts littering our campus, which also affects the environment. If they are adult enough to take up smoking, they should be adult enough to pick up after themselves.”

Bounds also suggested a substitute for smoking, like in the form of electronic cigarettes. But, this time last year, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration proposed the regulation of electronic cigarettes to be considered the same as tobacco products. Even the current campus policy states the use of electronic smoking devices is forbidden.

“I was here when they first implemented it, and it was kind of like a blanketed decision,” said Drew Davison, theater senior. “Let’s not ask anybody, we’re just going to basically say you can’t smoke on campus, which is kind of shady to begin with. I don’t agree with it at all, it’s ridiculous.”

Davison took a break from school to enlist in the Air Force in which he served for over four years, where he said designated smoking areas were used effectively.

“Even on military bases, while most places are smoke-free, they still have designated smoking areas,” Davison said. “If they did something like that here, I’m sure it wouldn’t be nearly as much of an issue, but they refuse. Some of us are here for 13 hours in the day. Should we just pack up all of our stuff, leave, and then come back?”

Davison, like many campus smokers, said he understands why the policy was implemented, but it was executed poorly.

“They didn’t want people having to walk through smoke in order to get inside. That makes sense,” Davison said. “But at the same time, that only helps [non-smokers]. What about the people that choose to smoke? They are basically saying, ‘Sorry about your opinion and your habit.’ I’m out of the military, I’m not an 18-year-old, and they are not dissuading me from something that I don’t already know.”