Smoke and mirrors: Revisiting UNC's smoking ban reveals a draconian policy with no real teeth

East Carolina University’s recent push to add gazebos to accommodate smokers on campus prompted a re-evaluation of the effectiveness of our own smoking policies at UNC.

UNC has never issued a citation for smoking too close to a building.

While some behavior has been altered, blatant lack of enforcement leads us to question the strictness of the policy as written.

In 2007 the North Carolina General Assembly gave UNC-system schools the power to regulate smoking up to 100 feet from university buildings.

In 2008, UNC-Chapel Hill voluntarily implemented the most restrictive smoking policy allowed under the new law by banning smoking within 100 feet of university buildings — including residence halls.

Other schools in the system chose to implement less restrictive policies.

East Carolina only banned smoking with 25 feet of university buildings. Fayetteville State University’s policy does not mention a smoke-free buffer around buildings at all.

Under Chapel Hill’s policy, smokers have very few places where they are allowed to smoke.

You can often spot them huddled around the flag pole — a place where smoking is allowed. But you can almost as often spot them pretty much anywhere on campus.

The University made a strong statement about smoking when it adopted the most restrictive policy possible, but over the last two years that message has become muddled by a lack of enforcement.

UNC cares about smoking enough to have a restrictive policy, but not enough to enforce it.

We are not advocating that DPS start enforcing the smoking policy with an iron fist. And clearly, the restrictions have somewhat altered smokers’ behavior.

However, if everything is running smoothly with zero enforcement of blatant rule breaking, then a reevaluation of the policy may be needed to send a consistent message.