Lighting up a cigarette on the terrace of the Cultuurcafé? Preferably not, says Vice-President of Radboud University Wilma de Koning. 'We’re responsible for a healthy working climate.'

People going into the university library first walk through a cloud of cigarette smoke. Vice-President Wilma de Koning finds that annoying. ‘I’m not the only one who’s bothered by this. And all those cigarette butts on the ground – it’s a mess.’

At the beginning of this month, the executive board sent a short memo to the participational council, stating that a non-smoking campus is the goal. Concrete measures or timelines have not yet been set. ‘We did this consciously’, says De Koning. ‘The first step is to enter into a dialogue.’

‘The discussion that we want to have with students and staff is a difficult one’, she states. ‘But we don’t want to avoid it. As a university, we set an example. And as an employer we are responsible for staff and students being able to work and study in a healthy climate.’

Not a lifestyle

In the area of a smoking policy, the university board is being advised by paediatric pulmonary specialist Peter Merkus of Radboud university medical center. ‘Smoking is not a life style, but an addictive illness’, he emphasises. ‘It is the number one killer – 20,000 Dutch people die from smoking and passive smoking annually.’

‘Smoking is not a lifestyle, but an addictive illness’

‘The large majority of smokers do not want to cause problems’, Merkus continues. ‘So understanding this addiction is important, just as important as understanding the problems caused by smoking.’ To reduce the problems, the university is considering a decrease in the number of spots where smoking is allowed. Just as at Radboud university medical center, we could indicate zones where smoking is permitted. Now it’s the other way around: smoking is allowed everywhere outside except at certain spots such as the entrances to buildings.

But reducing the number of smoking zones is not enough, emphasise both Merkus and De Koning. ‘We want to help our staff and perhaps also our students who plan to quit smoking’, De Koning says. ‘By offering professional assistance.’

Enforcement

Those who prohibit must also enforce. So will the campus soon be covered with no-smoking signs? Not if Peter Merkus has his way. He hammers the point that the anti-smoking policy must have a positive approach. ’80 percent of the work lies in good communication’, he states. ‘Traffic signs with a cigarette and a red line through it just isn’t the right approach.’

As Wilma de Koning realises, it’s easy to seem patronising. ‘We are not prohibiting smoking since that can have the reverse effect.’ What she thinks will help: including people in the process towards a smoke-free(r) campus. ‘We want to convince them that it’s a good idea. And if this results in more people giving up smoking, that’s an added benefit.’