I'm writing to encourage you to attend the upcoming town halls seeking input on how the UMBC community would like to see the new USM smoke-free policy implemented.  Among other things, the Smoke-Free Campus Task Force is actively considering recommendations about how to enforce the smoke-free policy (with $75 fines, for example) and how many areas (from none up to four) UMBC might allow for smoking for safety reasons.  They are also looking for suggestions on specific locations of these possible designated smoking areas.  I hope you'll encourage others to attend as well! Your opinion and voice matters and can make a difference!

 

All campus town halls will be held:

Tuesday, February 26, 12-1 p.m. in the UC 312

Friday, March 1, 12-1 p.m. in the UC 312

Wednesday, March 6, 12-1 p.m. in the UC Ballroom

If you haven't heard yet, the University System of Maryland Board of Regents has adopted a policy requiring all USM institutions, including UMBC, to provide a healthy, smoke-free environment for all faculty, staff, students, contractors, and visitors by July 1, 2013.  This means that smoking will be prohibited everywhere on campus, except for the possibility of a very limited amount of designated smoking areas that would have to be approved by Dr. Freeman Hrabowski.  The USM policy is very general and the Smoke-Free Campus Task Force  is actively considering recommendations from the UMBC community on how they should implement the new policy.  I strongly encourage you to attend the town halls and to spread the word in order to reach out to people that truly care about this topic and want to give their input.  My name is Jason Sumpter and I am an SGA senator and a student representative on the Smoke-Free Campus Task Force.  Please feel free to contact me, David Stonko or Aaron Kennet who are also SGA representatives on the Task Force.  You can also post suggestions and questions here, visit the task force website (attached below) or email the task force at smokefree@umbc.edu.