Despite objections from other members, the Faculty Senate voted to endorse a proposed tobacco ban on campus at its meeting Monday.
The Faculty Senate made it clear that the Tobacco-free University of Arizona Policy would apply to public events, such as the Tucson Festival of Books, as well as any university property not directly on the UA campus.
Associated Students of the University of Arizona Sen. Michael Mazzella, a communication junior, raised the issue of smokers living in dorms in his objection to the policy.
“Keeping in mind students who live on campus and in dormitories … who are smokers who choose to smoke. We’re all adults and we have that right to make that choice for ourselves,” Mazzella said. “They then would not be able to go home and smoke where they live.”
His objection was met with support by John Ulreich, a professor of English and self-proclaimed “recovering” smoker, who questioned whether or not the smoking population had any representation in the discussions on this policy.
However, the endorsement of the policy was ultimately passed.
Revisions to the one-on-one minor interaction policy were also discussed by Faculty Senate members.
The revisions would focus specifically on non-enrolled minors participating in university programs. The revision was outlined by Laura Todd Johnson, vice president of Legal Affairs and General Counsel, with its main objectives being protection for minors, paying attention and speaking up. The focus is on prevention and information, Johnson said, so all parties can be completely aware and informed about the interactions taking place.
“It’s an unwavering commitment to child safety on campus,” Johnson said, “but with some built-in mechanisms and things that will help.”
It was proposed that the ban on one-on-one interaction between adult employees and non-enrolled minors be lifted and replaced with a parental consent form, which would have to be signed before interaction took place. Programs on campus that require one-on-one contact would also have to be registered.
UA President Ann Weaver Hart said the goal of these revisions was to ensure that no program would be impossible to run.
Concerns raised about the revisions considered the representation of minors by faculty in the James E. Rogers College of Law, as well as potential issues that might arise from the background checks required in the revisions. The revisions will continue to be open for feedback until May 23.
Teri Lucie Thompson, senior vice president of University Relations and chief marketing officer at the UA, then informed the Faculty Senate about the new brand platform being implemented for UA. The goals of the initiative, which is titled Boundless, are to be more relevant to existing students, recruit new students and faculty, and reach out to funding agencies.
“We haven’t really had a platform where all of our communicators have been really consistent with the storytelling they’ve done for the University of Arizona,” Thompson said, “so this is meant to build that platform.”
Hart also addressed the death of UA student Michael Anderson, who died on Friday. She expressed her sorrow over the loss but said she was relieved to know that as a university, there was nothing that could have been done to know that the two students were climbing on the roof of their residence hall so early in the morning.
“This is so much a reflection of the daredevil dangers that come with being a teenager, and I just want you to know how terrible we all feel about this,” Hart said.
