In a further government-enforced health development Govenor Codey has banned the following: beer, pizza, Oreo's, salt, MSG, nitrites, and MONSTER THICKBURGERS.
Posted on 08/23/2005 7:20:18 PM PDT by Coleus
Governor snuffs out smoking in dorms
PRINCETON - Saying it would reduce the risk of fires and protect students' health, acting Governor Codey signed legislation Monday banning smoking in dormitories at public and private colleges.
"Today we are creating safer, healthier residence halls," Codey said in a written statement. The governor signed the legislation at Drew University in Madison where a cigarette ignited a dorm room fire on Feb. 14. Automatic sprinklers quickly doused the fire and no one was injured.
The ban will go into effect in 60 days, and individual colleges will decide how to enforce it.
According to a 2001 study by the Harvard School of Public Health, 27 percent of colleges prohibit smoking in student dormitories, and the study's author, Henry Wechsler, said the number has gone up since then.
Wechsler praised the New Jersey ban. While it might not encourage serious smokers to quit, his research has shown that such bans may keep many students from starting in the first place, Wechsler said.
"We found that students who do not smoke before college and go into non-smoking dorms are less likely to take up smoking," said Wechsler.
It is unclear how many students will actually be affected by the legislation, since many colleges and universities in the Garden State already have dormitory smoking bans in place.
Jason Butkowski, spokesman for the Senate Democrats, said all public institutions banned smoking in dormitories after a fire at Seton Hall University in January 2000 killed three students. Although the Seton Hall fire was not blamed on careless smoking, it prompted additional safety measures, including a law requiring sprinkler systems in college dorm rooms.
Among New Jersey's private universities, Seton Hall, Princeton and Rider already have banned smoking in dorm rooms or were planning to before the governor signed the legislation.
Princeton's ban on smoking in undergraduate dormitories will go into effect when students come back from vacation this fall.
Starting this fall, about 2,225 students who live on-campus at Rider University in Lawrenceville will not be able to smoke in their rooms, either.
According to Anthony Campbell, associate vice president for student affairs, the ban came about after a survey of the school's students showed that more than 60 percent wanted smoke-free dorms.
How can he make this law apply to private institutions?
And New Jersey is a cesspool of politicial corruption, but By God, no smoking in the dorms!!!
One incident,no injuries. Not overacting a little is he? What part of private does he not understand? What's next? Homes? Hotels?
What If 60% wanted real professors instead of commies, would he ban them?
NJ was the first (?) state to limit toilet flushes to 1.5 gallons in the early 90's before the technology was there and congress followed suit. Democrats love to pass laws which infringe on people's rights and privacy. After the Seton hall u. dorm fire where 3 students died, the republican legislature mandated sprinklers in all the college dorms, public and private. I know it's for the children.
Huh? What about use of illegal drugs in dorms? What about underage drinking of alcohol in dorms? What about promiscious sex in dorms? What about hazing? I guess, according to all of you anti-smoking Nazis, all that is OK as long as the students don't smoke a cigarette (joints are OK then, huh)??????
The dorm houses a great many people, but unlike a rental property; the dorm room is not 'private'. Lord knows many college students wish it were. For example, the dorm may 'close' for holidays; so students have to find somewhere else to live during Christmas and New Years. Also, non-students can not live in the dorm (married student housing is the exception). Also, in a great many states, any/all alcohol is prohibited, as are guns, knives and over-night 'guests'.
Given that the property belongs to the state, the state gets to make the rules. I can not see where the Govenor would have ANY authority over private college dorms. However, I know I wouldn't want everything I own to reek of smoke, because my (assigned) roommate was a smoker.
Yeah, I hear you but....
Smoke alarms and sprinklers were put in for these instances. They worked. You would think people would be happy about that. Why fix something that isn't broken? By the way, I don't smoke.
In a further government-enforced health development Govenor Codey has banned the following: beer, pizza, Oreo's, salt, MSG, nitrites, and MONSTER THICKBURGERS.
I don't think anyone should complain about this: at least smoking tobacco isn't a FEDERAL OFFENSE!
Yeah, I agree that this is a stupid law, & as a former nicotine addict I would be outraged if I still smoked cigarettes...but hey, it's still perfectly legal for adults to do.
I hope that some day those who smoke cigarettes will eventually come to understand what those of us who enjoy smoking marijuana are going through (regarding losing our jobs via piss testing, having our children taken away from us, being thrown in jail, having our property forfeited to the State, etc. etc.)
No, smoke alarms and sprinklers were put in to the dorms to put out fires from any number of sources (cooking, TV, over-loaded outlets, pranks gone horribly awry, toasters used for pizza, stereo receivers in tight places, ect.).
Given the minority status of smokers among college students (at least in my case), there are not enough smokers to have a "smoker's only" dorm; and frankly speaking, most smokers hate smelly "Smoker's Only" rooms too. How often do you find a smoker requesting a 'non-smoking' hotel room; only to smoke in that room too? Chances are, that most smokers would prefer to live in a smoke-free room, given a choice. The problem lies in that the majority of students do not want their clothes, bedding, shoes and hair smelling like smoke.
Personally, I would have preferred to see the student body VOTE on this.
Hey, we found something we can agree on. That was all I was saying.
"According to Anthony Campbell, associate vice president for student affairs, the ban came about after a survey of the school's students showed that more than 60 percent wanted smoke-free dorms."
That's funny, more than 60% of Southerns wanted slavery.
Banning tobacco or doobies?
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