Student Senate approved a motion to authorize a referendum regarding the UW-Platteville smoking policy. The vote will be non-binding, meaning the Senate’s decision would not have to be based on the referendum results.

“I don’t think it’s appropriate for us to authorize a binding referendum for this,” Eric Hopfensperger, Senate business manager, said. “You get an extremely small amount of responses, and it’s not fair for us to bind ourselves to this.”

The Senate approved the motion for a campus-wide referendum almost unanimously. The only dissenting vote came from Senate secretary Christopher Smith. Smith based his vote on a lack of feedback and student participation.

“They [the committee] have been putting a lot of effort in, but not getting a lot of turnout,” Smith said.

As part of the vote, the referendum will be electronic and available on the UW-P Web site, Kenny Brotheridge, Student Senate vice president, said. The exact location on the site has not been determined, but Brotheridge said the voting location would be well marked and an e-mail alert may be possible because of the nature of the issue.

A date for the referendum has not been set, but Jeffrey Schwan, chair of the smoking committee, said it could take place within two weeks.

“It will be completed as soon as possible,” Schwan said.

Schwan also presented the smoking committee’s proposal to Faculty Senate on Feb. 12. Faculty Senate voted unanimously to authorize the referendum to faculty members.

Tom Nelson, professor of civil engineering, questioned whether a smoking ban on the academic sector on campus would cause a decrease in revenue received from hosting wedding receptions in Ullsvik Hall.

“It helps with the summer budget,” Chancellor David Markee said. “Our goal is to always utilize our facilities.” Markee does not believe that prohibition of smoking would affect those revenues.

Academic Staff Senate and Classified Staff must also authorize a referendum for their members to vote on the proposal.

“We’ll take that information and see if we have a consensus,” Markee said. A final decision on a smoking ban would be up to Markee.