Indoor spaces at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point will be completely smoke-free beginning this fall.

The Residence Hall Association (RHA), an organization representing on-campus students, recently overwhelmingly voted 23 to 2 to ban smoking in all residence halls and the University Centers Policy Board decided to outlaw smoking in the one smoking room left in the University Center (UC) building. Currently nine out of 13 residence halls allow smoking in rooms with doors shut. The sale of tobacco products on campus also is prohibited.

The decision was not arrived at lightly, according to Anne Hoffmann, UWSP assistant director for student development. A series of meetings, an RHA forum, and an electronic forum were held during the previous semester. What past meetings and surveys showed was a majority of UWSP students are nonsmokers who believed that smoking should not be allowed on campus. At a December forum, about half a dozen students spoke in favor of individual rights and against the new no-smoking policy; however, all student speakers said they were aware of the dangers of second-hand smoke.

"This is a health issue," said Hoffman. "Closed doors cannot control smoke and any amount of secondhand smoke is harmful. Our students are concerned about the dangers of second-hand smoke."

With the new policy in place, UWSP joins most of the UW campuses. Only three schools still allow smoking on campus.

Stacey Powell of Waupaca, a graduate student in Human and Community Resources and UWSP Student Services Specialist, has assisted Hoffman with the project. She is compiling a tobacco policies handbook and also is project coordinator for a $50,000 campus education and cessation grant from the Wisconsin Tobacco Control Board.

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