Senate calls on Public Safety to enforce existing laws
By Maureen Inouye
The ASUP Senate passed a new resolution on Monday to ensure that smokers and cigarette disposals remain 50 feet away from buildings. The resolution also presents the Senate's commitment to programs geared at helping students quit smoking.
Corrado Senator, sophomore Alyssa Schmidt-Carr, and Mehling Senator, sophomore Samantha Riofta, submitted a revised Resolution 08-06 to the Senate this week because the original resolution draft caused some controversy among smokers.
"Sometimes they just pass legislation trying to make people quit - to make smoking so inconvenient, people will stop," senior Zoà Zuschlag said. She says she is a conscientious smoker who always tries to stay away from people, though she admits it is often difficult to tell if she is 50 feet from a building.
Oregon laws already prohibiting smoking within 50 feet of campus buildings, but the resolution seeks to ensure students follow the rule by creating more awareness
"I can't count 50 feet, so I don't expect other people to," Schmidt-Carr said. Because of this, she plans to have all cigarette disposals moved to the correct distance from buildings.
Schmidt-Carr and Riofta both said they have had numerous constituents complain about getting smoke in their faces between classes.
"It gets in people's faces, when (smokers) stand in the walkways, and some people have asthma - it's just irritating," Schmidt-Carr said. Schmidt-Carr also received complaints about the cigarette smoke smell drifting into buildings from outside.
Some students think the problem lies in the placement of the cigarette receptacles on campus.
"Sometimes outside the Library and the Pilot House, smokers are only about 10 feet away, but that's where they put the disposals and so that's where people congregate," sophomore Megan Fuhrer said.
Other students, however, do not seem too bothered by the smoking.
"It just doesn't bother me if it's outside the buildings," sophomore Nicole Hunt said.
There are more non-smokers on campus than students who smoke, and therefore Schmidt-Carr and Riofta feel justified in trying to protect the majority from second-hand smoke.
Eighty-four percent of UP seniors say they never smoke cigarettes, whereas 4 percent smoke frequently, according to a study by Karen Nelson, the UP Institutional Research director. The senators presented facts on second-hand smoke, including a study from the National Cancer Institute stating that there is "no safe level of exposure to second-hand smoke."
At the Senate meeting last week, the two senators presented a resolution to create designated smoking areas for students, but freshman Andrew Wade, who smokes, was present to protest the resolution.
Wade, in a prepared statement, expressed the concerns of many smokers on campus.
"As a constituent, I feel that Resolution 08-06 is an irresponsible attempt to ostracize smokers," he said at the beginning of his speech.
Wade said that many students do not have time between classes to travel to areas where other students are not present. He also pointed out that such unpopulated areas could be unsafe at night.
"The comfort of non-smokers should not precede the safety of others," Wade said. He said that he views smoking as an addiction and disease.
Wade also pointed out that the current rules keep smokers away from buildings anyway, and therefore the Senate should work to ensure those laws are enforced rather than create new rules. His speech was instrumental in creating the new resolution in its present form.
According to Riofta, the resolution just raises the administration's awareness of the problem, but does not require the administration to do anything.
"Once the resolution is passed, it's up to Public Safety to enforce it or not. It depends on how seriously they take us," Schmidt-Carr said.
She realizes the smoking areas are hard to enforce, and that might be something Public Safety will have to address as a result of this resolution.
"Public Safety doesn't walk around campus. Maybe they should. It might be more useful; they can't always see from cars and that would immerse them in student life," Schmidt-Carr said.
When The Beacon sought comment from Public Safety on the issue, Darlene Kalar, who works in the Public Safety office, said, "We are not speaking to The Beacon."
Wade also said that if smokers stay 50 feet away from buildings, the odds of high amounts of second-hand smoke reaching other students is small.
"Thirty minutes with a smoker in a confined space does not do permanent damage to a non-smoker. We are out of doors, and are passed within a fraction of a second," he said.
Riofta and Schmidt-Carr took Wade's concerns into account when revising the resolution for Senate approval.
Some smokers on campus would happily comply with the "50 feet" rule.
"Just because I'm a smoker does not mean others should have to breath my toxic air, but no one's ever approached me about it before," Zuschlag said.
