Dorm smoking ban goes too far, sacrifices privacy

Janet Dickerson, vice president for campus life, approved a smoking ban in all undergraduate dormitories last week that will take effect next fall. While this policy may seem like a reasonable extension of current regulations, it represents a significant — and inappropriate — departure from the status quo, in which smoking is permitted in all student dorms except a select few designated as smoke-free. Furthermore, it represents a departure from the well-established trend in which University regulations directly parallel State and Federal laws on campus.

To its credit, the new ban is a genuine attempt to improve fire safety on campus and promote student wellbeing. However, the new policy fails to adequately consider the welfare of smokers and the privacy of all students. The smoking ban creates significant burdens for regular smokers, who will have to leave their rooms and buildings to smoke. Smoking, harmful as it may be to health, remains legal, and the University conforms as a general rule to State and Federal laws in regulating substance use. By extending a smoking ban into dorm rooms, the University deprives students of a measure of freedom and privacy that other New Jersey residents enjoy.

Moreover, if the University cannot effectively enforce its new smoking ban, it is unclear how significant a contribution the policy would make toward health or safety goals. In order to ensure that new regulations are being followed the University might have to require public safety officers to enter dorm rooms at the mere report or suspicion of smoking, further encroaching on student privacy. And if the policy can't or won't be enforced, what's the point of having it?

At present, few students face serious problems from secondhand smoke, and few students with a demonstrable need for smoke-free housing are turned down. Instead of effectively addressing the needs of all students, the new smoking ban compromises the material wellbeing of smokers and the privacy interests of the broader student body. Moreover, the precedent it sets is troubling. Which legal activity will the University next deem inappropriate for dormitories, despite its permissibility under the law?

Students here at the University are adults, legally and morally able to make their own decisions. Without stronger reasons for intervention, the University should allow them to do just that.