Student Council discussed student safety and health concerns at their Tuesday meeting, weighing whether to move on a smoke-free Grounds policy and a new University-sanctioned safety app.
The question of whether the University could become a smoke-free campus was brought up by Safety and Wellness Co-Chair Rachel Murphy, a fourth-year College student.
No public university in Virginia is smoke-free, but American University adopted a smoke-free policy two years ago, Murphy said. Still, she acknowledged critiques of such policies.
“I know that people have mentioned that making Grounds smoke-free would just push smokers to the periphery,” Murphy said.
President Abraham Axler, a third-year College student, asked Council to consider how a smoke-free policy would affect non-students.
“One thing to keep in mind is how it would affect staff,” Axler said. “How far should they have to go to smoke?”
The Safety and Wellness Committee looked at a resolution to be passed through Student Council, Murphy said, but wasn't confident it would move forward.
“There didn’t seem to be enough of a consensus that it was something the student body would want,” Murphy said.
The committee is also working toward getting a new safety app for the University community.
“Last year there was a lot of talk about getting a safety-related app,” Murphy said. “The one the University has now — TipSoft — is really bad. It’s not designed well or user-friendly.”
The committee has been screening different providers to offer services for the app ranging from remotely escorting a friend home, an anonymous tip submission program to report suspicious activity which might not necessarily warrant a call to the police and opportunities to report crimes nearby, Murphy said.
“We [created] some PR stuff showing people free apps they can download that don’t have to be part of the University network, but the better ones require more connectivity,” Murphy said.
Without University endorsement, an app cannot connect users to University resources specifically.
The meeting concluded with a discussion of legislative issues, with debate over new bills which would reform and streamline the appeal process for organizations denied CIO status and change Student Council’s recruitment process.
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