The campaign to ban smoking at UNM has had trouble picking up steam.
In the fall, the Coalition for a UNM Smoke-Free Campus conducted a survey asking students if they wanted to ban smoking on Main Campus. Only 154 students took the survey, and about 52 percent of them wanted to ban smoking on campus.
And that wasn't enough to convince the Board of Regents.
Regent Don Chalmers said he would like to see more feedback from students before deciding on the issue.
"To me, that's not an overwhelming mandate," he said. "But the regents are there to do what the students or any constituency wants."
Chalmers said most of the regents are in favor of a smoke-free campus.
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Reuben Estrada, a member of the coalition, said his group hasn't given up on the smoking ban.
"Right now, we're not directing our efforts solely on the regents," he said. "Right now, we're working on UNM as a community whole about the dangers of secondhand smoke."
Estrada said the coalition plans to conduct more surveys and present its findings to the regents.
In 2006, ASUNM asked students whether to ban smoking on campus. There were 363 in favor and 300 opposed.
Matt Barnes, the organization's vice president, said those results were too close to act on, so ASUNM tabled the issue.
Regent Mel Eaves said he would like to see a broader representation of the student population before considering a ban.
"I agree with all the reasons for banning smoking on campus," he said. "I don't have to be convinced about that. But I need to be convinced that this is something that the students and the faculty and the staff would like to see."
Eaves said he was surprised by the lack of feedback on the smoke-free campus issue.
"I thought it would be more important to the students and staff than it appears to be," he said.
Chalmers said he's not sure how the University would carry out a campuswide smoking ban.
"How you enforce that policy is what concerns me," he said. "Because I don't know if it will be enforced, and I don't know what the penalties are if you violate it."
Estrada said the ban would need to be enforced by signs, and also by students, faculty and staff. There would be no penalty, he said.
"If it goes into effect," he said, "it will be one of those things that does take time."
Student Sam Hopkins said the University couldn't concoct a penalty severe enough to keep him from smoking.
"I would smoke anyway," he said. "What are they going to do? If they wanted to take away my scholarship, I would just transfer."
