Law forbids campus smoking around buildings,
classrooms
By Rebecca Brown
Daily Forty-Niner
It is illegal to smoke in certain areas
on campus, but that has not stopped some students from lighting up in areas
designated smoke-free.
"I'm smoking, but I wouldn't smoke around
a baby.
I think I can smoke in front of buildings
or next to someone," said English major Miko Unoki after being told that
the outdoor eating area in front of the Outpost Caf/ is designated off
limits to smokers.
Cal State Long Beach policy states that
the university is responsible for providing employees and students with
safe working and learning environments.
The policy prohibits smoking indoors at
any university facility.
Smokers cannot light up in the areas just
outside of buildings, either.
The outside seating areas of food service
facilities must have designated nonsmoking areas.
Stairways, elevators and food service areas
are also off limits.
"That basically means that any place on
campus that has four walls and a ceiling is off limits to smokers," said
Natalie Whitehouse-Capuano, project coordinator of the tobacco control
program at the Center for Health Care Innovation.
"It also goes for eating areas or entryways
where smoke can filter into a building.
"We aren't trying to place blame on those
who smoke," said Whitehouse-Capuano.
"We just want everyone to be aware of the
dangers of smoking."
The organization, which is not a campus
program, is funded by grants from the Los Angeles Department of Health
and Human Services.
The tobacco control program works to inform
students and children about the dangers of smoking and how to keep cigarette
smoke from posing a health threat.
Students and employees can be fined $75
or be ordered to serve 30 hours of community service if they are caught
smoking in designated nonsmoking areas.
"To the best of my knowledge, we have not
had to cite students for breaking the smoking law," said Jack Pearson,
chief of University Police.
"Students comply once they are given a
verbal warning."
As long as students smoke 25 feet away
from state building entrances, there is no violation unless complaints
are made, Pearson said.
"I find it interesting that I have noticed
a big increase in smokers on this campus over the past five years," said
Whitehouse-Capuano, who attributes the increase to the tobacco industry
and its targeting of18 to 24-year-olds.
The Food and Drug Administration passed
legislation in April 1997 that prohibits the tobacco industry from using
marketing tactics that appeal specifically to minors, according to a pamphlet
from the Department of Health and Human Services.
"If the tobacco industry gets you hooked
at 18, chances are you'll be smoking for a long time, if not for the rest
of your life," she said. |
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