The Student Government Association is trying to get smoking banned within 25 feet of all campus buildings.
"Currently, only Housing and Residence Life and the Walsh Library have policies banning smoking 25 feet from buildings; this does not include the University," SGA Chief of Staff Ryan Kane said.
The SGA will vote on the policy this Monday. If the recommendation passes, it will be sent to Seton Hall's Board of Trustees, which will make the decision on whether to enact the policy.
The idea came before the SGA last spring. "It was missing the rudimentary steps," Kane said. "Coming into this semester, we tried to assess how people feel about the policy."
The SGA conducted a survey to gather feedback about the policy that showed that most of the Seton Hall community was unaware that smoking was allowed near most University buildings.
According to Kane, Seton Hall is one of the only universities that does not have formal policy about smoking. "We have reached out to numerous universities including Georgetown, Villanova, New York University and Monmouth for benchmarking research," Kane said, "all of which have formal policies."
However, students interviewed had mixed reactions to such a policy.
Junior Jordan Lungo said policy would be unfair to smokers. "If a person wants to smoke and it's raining outside, they won't be able to keep dry," Lungo said.
But Mike Orrico said he is in favor of the policy. "I think it's a great idea," Orrico said. "Cigarettes smell weird, and I would like it if people didn't do it at all."
Freshman Cherish Carrillo said that she also likes the policy.
"I hate that every time I walk into Fahy it always smells like smoke," Carrillo said.
Rachel Hassett can be reached at rachel.hassett@student.shu.edu.
