BOZEMAN – MSU’s proposed tobacco-free policy has stalled as students continue to debate the balance between public health and personal rights.
Jenny Haubenreiser of the university’s Student Health Service’s health promotions office says she and other tobacco-free advocates approached student leaders with the proposal last fall. But some students said it is their right to use tobacco, while others asserted their right to be free of secondhand smoke.
The Associated Students of MSU Senate voted 18-0 in November to ask the university’s Tobacco Task Force to strike a compromise, but ASMSU student president Teresa Snyder says the issue probably won’t be reconsidered until after the March student elections.
Meanwhile, the student government at the University of Montana has endorsed a tobacco ban that will take effect by the fall of 2011. Montana Tech plans to become tobacco-free by July.