Webster University faculty and staff will have a chance to vote on whether the university’s campus should become smoke-free.
In the 2016 spring semester, Webster’s Student Government Association (SGA) drafted a policy to ban smoking on campus which was intended as a student referendum; it would be put to an online vote by Webster’s student population, and would go into effect if the majority voted yes.
However, SGA president C. Wiley said, the policy was not immediately approved by the university’s administration. They asked SGA to consult with other groups on campus, including the human resources office, the Wellness Committee, faculty senate and the Webster Staff Alliance, a group which represents Webster’s non-faculty employees.
SGA held a meeting with those groups on August 31 to discuss a path forward for the policy.
“The referendum process is a little bit exclusive because it doesn’t include faculty and staff,” Wiley said.
Instead, the proposal will be voted on by three groups – students, the Webster Staff Alliance and the faculty senate – using the same language in each case.
If there is enough interest in moving forward from all three groups, Wiley said, an SGA task force will write a policy that will be sent to the administration for approval.
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