A proposed smoking ban on Ball State University's campus might snuff student's butts for good, but students will have the chance to speak their minds before any decisions are made.
Provost Terry King said the ban would prohibit smoking on any Ball State property.
Jamie Manuel, vice president of Student Government Association, said student interest groups from each side of the debate will present their arguments to the Student Senate on Sept. 5. There will be a referendum, in which students' opinions will be reflected, on Sept. 10 and 11 and the results will be announced on Sept. 12, he said.
"We want each interest group's view points represented fairly," he said. "Both interest groups will address the Senate as a whole, and the senators will take that information back to their constituents."
SGA is working with University Computing Services to install Web site links with information about each interest groups' viewpoints, Manuel said.
After the results are announced, SGA will present the information to President Jo Ann Gora, Manuel said.
"The administration obviously has the final say, but they've been very helpful with representing the students' views," he said.
King said he mentioned the possibility of a smoking ban during a recent all-faculty meeting. The administration is considering polling the faculty about their opinions on the ban. The university has not made any formal motions, he said.
"I think it would be a marvelous idea," King said. "It not only makes it a nice place to work, but it reduces health care costs."
University officials want to reach a final decision by 2009, he said.
"We asked faculty for a sense from the Senate about this some time later this semester," he said. "By Dec. 1 we want a sense of what they think about it."
Not everyone is in favor of the proposed smoking ban.
Freshman marketing major Brittany Havlin, who is a smoker, said the ban would not only take smokers' cigarettes away from them, but it would also take away part of their social lives.
"Not only do more than a few people smoke around here," she said, "but, smoking in general, you can meet a lot of people that way."
Havlin said if Ball State passed the smoking ban, then it should only be banned in certain areas of campus. The university should ban it in crowded areas such as the sidewalks along McKinley, but allow people to smoke in other areas where second-hand smoke can not bother non-smokers, she said.
"We are 30 feet away [from the buildings]," she said. "[Non-smokers] don't have to be around here. They can walk away."
King said the proposed smoking ban has resulted, in part, due to smoking bans implemented at other universities.
"These kinds of things are being discussed around the country these days," he said.
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