Portland State students who enjoy smoking in the South Park Blocks can take a deep breath and relax…for the time being.
Though Portland State and the City of Portland have talked about creating a smoke-free zone in the South Park Blocks—including the city-owned areas in between the PSU campus—smoking will be allowed for the foreseeable future.
Despite a story published in the Oregonian last week that stated otherwise, the university has not asked the City of Portland to impose a smoking ban in the South Park Blocks at this time, PSU Director of Communications Scott Gallagher said.
However, PSU officials do want to create a Clean Air Corridor in the walkways between Cramer Hall, Smith Memorial Student Union and Neuberger Hall. This corridor would be a zone where people would be encouraged not to smoke.
Additionally, PSU would encourage individuals and workers to limit the emissions of leaf-blowers and car exhaust in the area.
Gallagher said that students have complained to the university about smoking on campus. Dana Tasson, executive director of Student Health and Counseling at PSU, noted that the idea for the Clean Air Corridor originated from a student.
The discussion about reducing or eliminating smoking on campus has been going on for several years, according to Tasson. Five years ago, university officials began internal discussions about how to address the issue of smoking on campus.
Three years ago, PSU started the Healthy Campus Initiative. This initiative is part of a university-driven effort to promote wellness on campus. Besides exploring the smoking issue, other projects include wellness fairs, blood drives and finding healthy items for vending machines.
Student Health Services has already conducted two surveys regarding this issue, one in 2007 and another this year. The 2012 survey had 4,000 respondents, including students, faculty and staff, nonsmokers, smokers and former smokers; 77 percent of the participants were students.
According to the survey, approximately 70 percent felt that PSU should be a smoke-free campus. This number has increased from 2007, when 51 percent of respondents wanted the university to be smoke-free.
Gallagher stressed that no matter what changes take place on PSU’s campus, the city must make the decision about the South Park Blocks. While PSU performs maintenance of the lawn and foliage in the South Park Blocks section of the campus, it does not have the jurisdiction to instill smoking regulations.
Ross added that if the city were to consider a future smoking ban in the South Park Blocks, there would be a public outreach period to gauge the reaction of those living and doing business in the area. If a ban were passed, Portland park rangers would be responsible for issuing citations for smoking violations.