PSU committee examines survey results
There’s a lone smoking shelter between Smith Memorial Student Union and Cramer Hall, but despite the “no smoking” signs posted on the bench next to it, some people still sit there to have a cigarette between classes. The current Portland State smoking policy mandates that certain areas remain smoke-free and prohibits smoking within 25 feet of doorways, building entrances and exits, operable windows and other areas. Signs are posted all over campus, reminding the PSU community of the rules and regulations. Despite the signs, some designated smoke-free areas remain problematic. Soon, however, this could change.
A campus-wide anonymous survey held from Jan. 24 to Feb. 23 gave the PSU community the opportunity to express its collective voice on campus tobacco use. The Smoking/Tobacco Sub-Committee, responsible for overseeing the policy, will review the results and comments. Pending the results of survey, the PSU community could see a change in the current smoking policy.
Gywn Ashcom, health educator at the Center for Student Health and Counseling and Smoking/Tobacco Sub-Committee chair, said the survey produced 3,841 responses; of those responses, 33 percent self-identified as smokers or former smokers and 67 percent self-identified as nonsmokers. Ashcom said the committee is in the information-gathering stage and will be looking at the results in order to determine the best way to amend the policy to meet the needs of the community.
“Everyone seems to feel strongly that something needs to change, but we don’t know how yet,” Ashcom said. She said that many survey participants mentioned the smoking shelter in the open comment section of the survey, expressing frustration about walking through the smoky corridor separating the two buildings. This walkway is one of the major thoroughfares connecting the South Park Blocks to the east side of campus.
Junior Polly Albright said, “The smoking goes on in such close proximity to the buildings that most days I cannot walk into class without going directly through a cloud of smoke that surrounds the doors at Cramer Hall.”
Albright believes that everyone should have a choice about whether or not to smoke, but feels the 25-foot rule is not well enforced. She added, “Smoking directly outside the doors puts all nonsmokers directly in the path of the fumes.”
Senior David McCarthy agreed with Albright regarding the 25-foot rule. “I don’t see why there needs to be any changes; the policy just needs to be enforced,” McCarthy said.
The University of Oregon will be going smoke-free in fall 2012, and other universities will be implementing similar policies. However, because PSU is in an urban environment and isn’t a closed campus, Ashcom said that there may be additional challenges to implementing such a policy. Of the PSU survey respondents, 63 percent said they would like to see the park blocks become a smoke-free environment. However, the park blocks are owned by the City of Portland and maintained by PSU, and to effect a no-smoking policy could prove difficult.
Portland Community College went tobacco-free in September 2009. However, in 2011, the policy had to be amended because smokers were leaving campus and smoking near neighboring houses and businesses. After complaints from neighbors and area businesses, PCC worked with various neighborhood associations and created designated smoking areas called “Good Neighbor Zones.” Smokers caught in non-smoking designated areas could receive a $50–75 citation.
PSU’s Smoking/Tobacco Sub-Committee wants to make sure that there are no unintended consequences from a new smoking policy, such as those encountered at PCC. Ashcom said they are looking closely at who will be impacted by changes and seeking input from as many people as possible.
“We want to make sure we understand what people want and that everyone is respected,” said Ashcom. “We want to avoid sitting around a table making a decision that affects 30,000 people.”
