Oct. 8, 2014

By Alexandria Zamecnik

The Tobacco-Free Campus Resolution failed to pass through the Whitewater Student Government (WSG) senate, with a vote of 5-13 with 4 abstentions.

The resolution says the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater will develop a voluntary compliance system to implement a complete tobacco-free campus by Sept. 1, 2015.

Jonathan Fera, representative on the Chancellor’s Tobacco-Task Force for WSG, spoke on approving the resolution. Fera higlighted the policy being strictly voluntary.

“This means if you’re violating the policy, you’re not going to get a ticket,” Fera said. “You’re not going to get any academic misconduct. It’s a change in culture.”

The task-force was created at the request of Chancellor Richard Telfer to investigate the current tobacco policy at UW-Whitewater.

“The task force isn’t forcing you into anything,” Fera said.

WSG should not be looking for the flaws in the policy, but looking for the pros, Fera said.

President of WSG, Nathan Perry expressed his concerns on the tobacco resolution.

“One of my big concerns is that the community was not involved in the process,” Perry said. “There was not a single community member on the task force.”

Ian McKee, a WSG senator, said the resolution is only meant to better the health of the campus.