RWC Math Professor Bob McGee made quite an announcement at the April RWC faculty meeting, just before he was elected to represent faculty on the RWC Buildings and Grounds Committee. He declared that he wants to eliminate smoking on the Raymond Walters Campus, in other words, to make RWC a smoke-free environment, both in-doors and out-doors. Later in an interview, Professor McGee said that he has had much experience with smoking, being himself formerly a smoker for 17 years and his father being one as well. His reasons for wanting the ban are for promoting the personal health of individuals, not necessarily from second hand smoke, but the dangers of smoking for the smoker.
Professor McGee is still currently working on ideas for a ban or at least restricting smoking, for the benefit of students and faculty alike. Some of his ideas have included creating a designated smoker’s hut or finding other areas on campus in which to smoke, what he describes as “more outside the box thinking.”
One such idea is to require students to smoke with either faculty or staff, the benefit behind this being that students and faculty could get to know each other outside the classroom while helping to limit smoking.
He will continue to work on these issues and hopes to present some of his ideas to the Building and Grounds Committee soon.