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Smoking ban challenging to enforce on UM campus HANNAH RINEHART
thedmnews@gmail.com
Since the University adopted a campus-wide smoking ban in 2013, the University Police Department has issued less than 200 citations. The policy bans smoking for students, faculty, staff and contractors on all grounds owned by the University. University Police Department Chief Tim Potts said after the policy was originally passed, there was a learning period on the campus, but that time is long gone now. Giving out citations for smoking on campus, however, is harder than it seems, Potts said. Since Aug. 1, 2015, the UPD has only issued 73 citations. Since the University originally enacted the policy in 2013, the UPD has given a total of 179 citations. The fine for violating the smoking ban is $25. “It’s a policy that’s tough to enforce,” Potts said. “We typically try to stick to warnings at first.” Although Potts has only been working with the UPD since June 2015, he is no stranger to enforcing smoking restrictions.
“I came from a University with a no-smoking policy,” Potts said. “I know how important the policy is, and I am very comfortable with trying to enforce it.” Potts said football game days are particularly high-traffic days for smoking on campus in the fall semester. Potts said he assigns several UPD officers to patrol the Grove on game days, but they usually only issue warnings. “We’ll just go through the Grove telling people to put their cigarettes and cigars out, and, if they listen to us, we usually do not have any problems,” Potts said. “Your attitude goes a long way in determining what is going to happen.” Potts said enforcing the smoke-free policy depends on everyone. If a student sees someone smoking on campus, but does not want to get personally involved, all the student has to do is call in and tell UPD, and they will take care of it. This includes tips about areas where students try to secretly smoke on campus. Potts said he feels that the University made a smart move when deciding to become a smoke-free
PHOTO BY: CAMERON BROOKS
SEE BAN PAGE5 A student smokes a cigarrette on campus, an acitivity that is banned by the University, but hard to stop.
Supreme court justice was a ‘friend to this University’ LOGAN KIRKLAND
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COURTESY: UNITEDSTATESSUPREMECOURT
The most recent conversations and debate topics of the presidential election sparked when Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, appointed by Ronald Reagan in 1986, died on Saturday Feb. 13, 2016. Scalia, known for his unique legal opinions, often enforced a very literal interpretation of the Constitution, often calling himself a textualist, according to law professor Ronald Rychlak who had met Scalia on
multiple occasions. Scalia served as a speaker at many universities, making his last visit to the University of Mississippi in 2014. Rychlak said although many people disagreed with Scalia’s opinions and decisions, there are very few people that knew Scalia personally and did not like him. “He was a friend to this university, and he certainly brought an intellectual viewpoint to the courts,” Rychlak said. Rychlak said there are two
polarizing opinions when it comes to interpreting the Constitution. He said there are people who believe the Constitution needs to be a living, breathing document that morphs and adopts for the needs and issues of the current day and those who believe the Constitution should be interpreted literally in the terms it was originally set in. “Scalia had a pretty clear vision,” Rychlak said. “Scalia would try to tether all current law to the constitution as written.”
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