Students’ Association repeals controversial smoking resolution

The Students' Association voted to survey students about a campus wide smoking ban, rather than put the issue to a student vote.
Getting the needed two-thirds majority exactly, SA voted to rescind the Nov. 29 resolution in order to specify that the poll's results will not be a deciding factor.
"The new resolution isn't going to change policy in any way," said Sen. Shad Christman, who co-sponsored the resolution. "It's just intended to gauge student opinion."
While introducing the new resolution at the Jan. 31 meeting, Christman called the original, rescinded resolution "controversial," "biased," "a firestorm" and "not what the students wanted."
The rescinded resolution, which was passed Nov. 29, said SA would "sponsor a campus-wide student/ employee vote to approve a smoke-free campus." On Jan. 31, Senators Christman and Kate Wegehaupt sponsored Resolution 10-20-R, which changed the title from "Smoke-free campus vote" to "Smoking policy student survey," and it underwent multiple clarifications and amendments.
"We spent about 45 minutes slicing and dicing the new resolution," Sen. Mark York said.
SA chose to put the survey on the presidential election ballots on March 21, which was a decision proposed by York.
(Former Sen.) Hassan Ali, who was one of the sponsors of the first resolution, saw the smoking and tobacco issue as something that could potentially get students interested in SA and interested in who to elect as leaders.
"[Ali] thought it would be a really neat way to get people out to the polls at elections by putting the smoking issue on the ballot," York said.
Christman and SA President Brett Monson said the increase in voter turnout was not the main purpose.
"That may have been part of it," Monson said. "I couldn't say that would be the sole reason."
Whether or not an increase in voter numbers was an original goal, Monson and Christman said an increase in turnout would be a positive effect, considering last year close to 2,000 students voted.
"That would be a nice bonus," Monson said. "[But] ideally, we could have voter turnout regardless of the smoking thing."