Smoking, dipping and chewing tobacco could be prohibited if MSU accepts a new proposal.  The MSU President’s Cabinet authorized a research committee to draft a proposal in order to implement a campus-wide tobacco ban.
Bill Kibler, vice president of student affairs, said the committee will be working hard over the next few months to determine the best way to establish a tobacco-free campus.
“The committee will be for the purpose of developing a proposal for a policy, how it would be implemented and the timing,” Kibler said.  “Hopefully, we’ll receive it by the end of the semester.”
The committee will research other colleges that have a tobacco-free policy on campus.  It will look at colleges such as the University of Kentucky, the University of Arkansas, the University of Mississippi and the University of Florida to study their policies’ guidelines and effectiveness. 

 
 
 
 
The committee will also study how other schools put their regulations into place.  Kibler said they will examine all those colleges in the area to find the best consequences for violation of the policy.
“Many colleges in the area have newly-adopted tobacco-free policies,” Kibler said.  “All of those schools will probably be models for our enforcement mechanisms.”
According to most university policies, the first time someone is caught using tobacco, he or she will be asked to remove the product.  If he or she refuses, then further disciplinary action will be taken.  The University of Mississippi fines students, faculty and staff who violate its tobacco-free campus policy up to $25.
At least one person on MSU’s committee will be from the Social Science Research Center, which has collected a wealth of data regarding student opinion on tobacco use. The group will employ this information to draft the final proposal.
According to the 2011 University Survey of Tobacco Control, the majority of students are in support of a ban on smoking. In an online poll of 978 MSU students, 70.4 percent support no smoking in all areas of campus and 82.8 percent of students are in favor of stricter campus tobacco policy enforcement. 
Some students argue the policy would infringe upon their rights.  Tyler Beardsley, senior broadcast meteorology and climatology major, said he feels implementing a campus-wide tobacco-free policy would be extremely unfair.
“I don’t want my right to smoke on campus taken away,” Beardsley said.
He also pointed out the problems a new policy would cause for students who live on campus.
 ”It’s unfair for MSU to tell students they can’t use tobacco when so many people who live in the dorms don’t even have cars,” Beardsley said.  “They don’t have the opportunity to leave campus to go anywhere else to smoke or use tobacco.”
If a new policy is brought in, smokers and dippers may have time to adjust to the change.  Kibler said implementation would be gradual.
“In most cases, universities have taken sort of a phased-in approach,” Kibler said.  “We’ll be taking some time to widely communicate what this means to the entire campus if the policy is accepted.”
The current MSU policy restricts the use of all tobacco products, of any form, in all university facilities and vehicles owned or leased by MSU.  Smoking is only allowed outside, away from enclosed areas, at a distance of at least 25 feet.  Tobacco products cannot be sold on campus or advertised in any campus publication. 
If MSU accepts the proposal for a tobacco-free policy on campus, the campus will be among over 530 colleges and universities that are currently entirely smoke-free.