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Campus cashes in on stricter smoking policy
April 14, 2010 10:35 AM
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As of yesterday evening, 35 people were cited for smoking in non-designated areas, according to University spokesperson Ellen Griffin. Beginning on April 12, the Department of Public Safety issued citations of $58 to anyone lighting up in a non-smoking area. Students who do not pay the fee will face financial holds on their registration. Total revenue for the first two days of the new policy comes to approximately $2,030. On Monday, 20 people were cited while Tuesday racked up 15 more citations. The collected revenue will go toward projects that aim to keep campus smoke-free, according to an e-mail SF State President Robert Corrigan sent to students, staff and faculty in March. Before the tighter restrictions started this week, there were a total of nine designated smoking areas scattered around campus, some situated outside of high-traffic buildings like HSS. Now, six of those spaces have been removed, leaving just three on the outer perimeter of the residence halls at Font Boulevard, State Drive and North State Drive. A faculty member found deliberately hiding near the construction zone of the new library said she understands the complaints made by non-smokers in the campus community. As a smoker and faculty member, she actually supports the stricter anti-smoking policy, but said the designated areas are simply too far away. She explained that her smoke breaks are casual five-minute affairs and shouldn't have to be a walk to the park or to the parking structure. Outside the HSS building, a group of students joined by two professors discussed the reality of University police fining the pack of smokers. They agreed that non-smokers deserve a smoke-free campus but were reluctant to reveal any identification for fear of receiving a citation. The University first tightened its smoking policy in August 2004. Until now, if University police officers spotted someone smoking in a non-designated area, they would inform the smoker of the rules and ask them to move to one of the nine designated areas on campus.
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| BACK TO TOP | Copyright © 2008 [X]press | Journalism Department - San Francisco State University |
I'm grateful to the University for taking recent steps to clear the air.
Enforcement of the Academic Senate’s 2004 smoke-free campus policy will go a long way toward protecting the health of everyone who spends time at SF State.
Not only is breathing in the smoke of others a nuisance, it can harm the most vulnerable among us such as people with asthma and other medical conditions. The California Air Resources Board (CARB) designated secondhand smoke a toxic air contaminant, with no safe level of exposure. As a result, secondhand smoke has joined benzene, arsenic and diesel exhaust on the Toxic Air Contaminant list. The United States Surgeon General’s Report, The Health Consequences of Involuntary Exposure to Tobacco Smoke, also found that there is no safe level of exposure to secondhand smoke.
In addition, enforcement of the policy should lead to fewer cigarette butts littering the campus. Cigarette butts and filters leach toxic chemicals like cadmium and lead into the groundwater. Cleanup of cigarette butts is tremendously labor-intensive and expensive. Penn State reported that in 2007, their annual cleanup of cigarette litter on campus cost $150,000. During an era when we don’t have sufficient funds to support academics and student services, the whole campus community will benefit without the extra financial burden that comes from cigarette butt litter.
If you know someone who would like to quit smoking, please tell them that lots of help is available right here on campus. In addition, anyone in California can call 1-800-NO-BUTTS for free information and counseling by phone.
Enjoy the cleaner air on campus. I think that the American Lung Association says it best:
"When you can't breathe, nothing else matters".