September 13, 2015

Director Terra Peckskamp

Office of Residence Life
111 Waverly Avenue, Suite 200
Syracuse, NY 13244
Dear Director Terra Peckskamp:
As a third year resident advisor (RA), I have noticed a general trend of confusion among my fellow
RAs across the campus regarding the new Tobacco-Free campus policy. As you already know,
smoking or use of all tobacco products on areas owned by Syracuse University (SU) is prohibited.
Im completely on board with the intention of this policy to make SU a healthy campus, and Im
more than happy to enforce this as I was ordered to. However, tobacco is still commonly used
despite the fact that this policy went into effect about two months ago. I would like to suggest you
an amendment on how to enforce this policy because I believe the main problem lies with the way
the policy was enforced.
According to the Compliance and Enforcement section of this policy, all SU students, faculty, staff,
alumni, and volunteers are encouraged and empowered to remind others that are not complying
with this policy. Basically, anyone on campus has the choice to enforce this policy, but no really
does. If responsible employees such as RAs and Department of Public Safety (DPS) officers act
accordingly to the Compliance and Enforcement section, we need to document all on-campus
smoking incidents by confronting every single person that is smoking which requires
immeasurable time and effort. This is unrealistic given the fact that we all have other important
obligations. Also, to help with the burden, administration has relied on advertising with banners,
ordering RAs to inform residents, and emailing students but these efforts dont address the drastic
or sudden change expected from the campus.
In order to help the community transition successfully to a tobacco free campus, SU can establish
designated smoking stations in certain less populated corners of campus. Then, DPS officers and
RAs should be instructed to document anyone who is caught smoking outside of these stations.
This way, it will single out anyone that is not complying with the policy. In addition, this solution
will make the confrontation much easier for RAs and DPS officers. Although the downside of this
solution is that smoking or using tobacco will be still allowed on the campus, it will still reduce
the expose to second hand smoke. Also, smokers will have to trouble themselves to go to
designated smoke stations to avoid the general population. In conclusion, I see this method as a
realistic compromise to creating a healthy, productive, and respectful environment.
Sincerely,
Martin Bin
Ernie Davis Hall Resident Advisor