Pretty soon, those that want to smoke may have to do so in a designated area.

A possible restriction on smoking was discussed at the first SGA town hall meeting of the semester.

The SGA voted to form a subcommittee to draft legislation for these new smoking restrictions. The proposed legislation would be sent to the Faculty Senate.

“This smoking policy, if enacted, we would have designated smoking pits,” Reginald Merritt, SGA senator, said.

Merritt added that the smoking pits would be, at the least, 30-feet away from a window, entrance, exit, or air intake system.

While these new restrictions on smoking may be off-putting to some, Merritt added that this policy would still be light compared to other schools around the state.

“Other schools, like UGA and West Georgia, have a smoking policy where [there is] no smoking on campus, even in cars,” Merritt said. “So this is kind of lenient and not as radical or extreme as it may come off.”

Enforcement for the smoking policy would come in the form of an enhanced police force, whose ranks would be bolstered by student patrol officers. An idea that was mentioned during last week’s SGA meeting.

These student patrol officers would help the VSUPD while the department is in the process of hiring new officers, according to Amber Worthy, SGA vice president.

“We aren’t making many changes,” Ololade Fagbohun, SGA senator, said. “The old rule right now is 25-feet, we just changed it to [30], and [we’re] making sure there’s a designated area at smoking pits.”

Fagbohun explained that the distance was increased because once a person was 25-feet away from one building they were within 25-feet of another building—thus making the 25-foot rule ineffective.

SGA senators, however, have been quick to point out that this is not a ban on smoking.

“In the past Spectator, it talked about how we discussed smoking bans, and I had students in my class saying, ‘I’m going to write a petition against that,’” Lorraine Dawkins, SGA senator, said. “We need to be clear that we’re not trying to ban smoking entirely from this campus, but rather designate areas.”

NOTES (Also mentioned during the SGA meeting: Put this in a separate box):
-Ja’Marrius Thomas (sophomore nursing major) and Airy Hall (junior psychology major) were elected SGA senators. Thomas ran for SGA secretary during last year’s elections.
-Ryan Baerwalde, SGA President, was contacted by a reporter from the Wall Street Journal on Monday, who intends to do a story on how HOPE cuts are affecting students.
-Baerwalde also mentioned about how he and other SGA presidents across Georgia have formed what is termed a “Student Advisory Council”, who have formulated a united stance of what to do with HOPE. This stance involves increasing revenue streams for HOPE, such as gambling.
-SGA meets every Monday night at the SGA Cypress Room.