FEATURE
The ashtray outside the Boca campus library used to be very popular. The only problem: It was in a nonsmoking area.
“Why would you put an ashtray where people aren’t supposed to smoke?” asked Kassie
Nieves, a senior marketing major, with her arms stretched out for emphasis and a cigarette dangling between her fingers.
Nieves is not the only student frustrated at FAU Boca’s new smoking policy. The new set of rules was enacted in January and designated the areas where students could light up. However, without a clear set of punishments for breaking the rules, some students are simply ignoring them. They feel that since administration does not seem to care about its new rules, neither should they.
Many smokers disregard these rules because administration failed to cover most of the designated smoking areas before initiating their new policy. Without cover, students are forced to smoke elsewhere in order to stay dry.
“I got yelled at by a girl for smoking in a nonsmoking area, but it was raining. So, I told her she could move if she wanted to,” freshman psychology major Jordan Paul said. “They don’t offer any place with a cover. If it’s raining, we’re screwed.”
Melea Trindade, a sophomore sociology major, agreed with Paul, adding that she refuses to be rained on just to adhere to school policy.
“If it’s raining, I’ll find a place that’s covered. If it’s cold, I’ll find a place in the sun. If I’m walking from my car, I’ll finish my cigarette,” she said.
Jaylene Elick, a freshman history major and a nonsmoker, noticed this frame of mind.”Smoking designation spots are horrible. People smoke anywhere anyway,” she said.
Some smokers would make an effort to conform to the rules if administration was willing to compromise.”[Designated smoking areas] are inconvenient, but we can deal with that as long as the areas are covered,” said Paul.
Most smokers, like Paul, claim to smoke between classes and do so on their normal track without stopping at a designated area.
“If it’s walking between classes not in the Breezeway, I’ll smoke wherever,” he said. “If there was a ‘no smoking in the Breezeway’ rule, I’d be fine with that.”
Some students find the designated areas themselves to be problematic.
Chris Mulcan, a freshman communication major, claimed that the areas do not prevent secondhand smoke or its harmful effects on nonsmokers.
“Designation still allows for secondhand with smoke blowing around,” said the smoker. “You can’t designate the air.”
Pointing at a designated smoking area across from the Business Building (BU), Kassie Nieves said, “I didn’t even see the ashtrays there because this area is under a tree. It’s nasty, and there are things that fall on me, and I don’t want to sit there.”
But some students, like Kim Pekala, a senior English major, find the areas comfortable. She said, “There is a social community among smokers. I prefer having a regular place to smoke. This way, the smoking assists me in smoking socially.”
There are those who think common courtesy would be sufficient to create a campus that is friendly to smokers and nonsmokers alike.
“If you want me to stop smoking somewhere, just ask. I will,” said Mulcan.
Jordan Schiff echoed Mulcan’s sentiment.
“No one was blowing smoke in anyone’s face before the designations. Campus is large enough to allow us to smoke in the walkways without bothering others,” Schiff, a junior journalism major, said.
According to some smokers, there is still confusion about the terms of the new policy.
“This girl comes up to me and says, ‘You know you’re not supposed to smoke here. You’re not supposed to smoke on campus.’ She didn’t even know about the designated areas,” said Paul.
The ashtray mentioned in the beginning of the story used to be one of four near the library entrance (it was removed over spring break); the remaining three are in the designated smoking area across the walkway from the library. These three ashtrays, however, were almost empty when the UP conducted a short survey on the premises (see side bar).
“I’ve been told the library is a problem area,” said Rosemary Dunbar, director of FAU’s Today & Beyond Wellness Center.
According to Dunbar, the policy has, at least, decreased the amount of smoking in key areas. Dunbar is the face of the new smoking policy, having outlined its details and presented it to the Board of Trustees before its January implementation.
“I have seen in the areas by Starbucks, back by the cafeteria, that people are really being good, and that’s where smoke used to be heavy. I’ve seen people be really respectful and go to the smoking areas, and I’ve seen others blatantly not do so,” she said.
Dunbar claimed that verbal enforcement is hit-or-miss with students.
“Usually, when I say something, people are polite, and sometimes I’ve had some rude comments,” she said. “Not everyone buys into this.”
Enforcement, or the lack thereof, is another issue that causes students to ignore the new policy. The new policy does not call for the punishment of those breaching it. It does, however, allow for a Peer Education Team representative to approach a student and politely request that the smoker put out the cigarette.At worst, a student might be sent to the dean after repeated offenses and scolded.
“Enforcement is a joke. If you’re going to make a big deal about it, take it seriously,” said Sean Bellew, a senior political science major.
Jordan Schiff also pointed out that administration isn’t doing much to hold up its policy.”There really isn’t much enforcement that I’ve seen,” he said.
Brisa Romero, a junior English major and a nonsmoker, compared the areas to another type of designation.
“Just as we have regulations for parking and we have to pay when we break those rules, smokers should be fined when they break smoking rules,” she said.
“If administration doesn’t treat students with a hard hand, then students aren’t going to respect administration; they obviously don’t.”
Dunbar confirmed that there are problems with student adherence to the policy, but students are not the only perpetrators.
“I’ve heard complaints about people who ignore the rules,” she said. “And I see the staff smoking in their golf carts.”
However, Seth Thompson, an academic support services coordinator and a nonsmoker, sees nothing wrong with the lack of enforcement.
“I think the idea is to make people aware that when they’re smoking out in front of a building, it could affect other people. [It makes] them mindful of where they smoke, and it touches other people,” he said. “I don’t think fines are necessary.”
Dunbar said she and others involved in the policy have done “as much as we can asking people to comply.” Responding to students claiming that enforcement is weak, she said, “Anyone who would say that doesn’t understand why we’re asking them to do this. [They] see this as a violation of their personal rights.”
Pamela Polonczyk, an ex-smoker and a junior sociology major, claimed that the new policy did not have any part in persuading her to quit. She said, “I didn’t quit because of the designations; I quit because of my health.”
In the end, smokers seem to hold the upper hand in the smoking issue on campus. Dunbar was planning on implementing a tobacco-free campus by January 2011 but acknowledged that FAU President Mary Jane Saunders would have to be presented with the idea.”We will have to, again, present this and get that blessing,” she said of the
go-ahead previously afforded by ex-Interim President John Pritchett. If the current state of affairs is any measure as to how a full tobacco-free campus policy will work out, the
future seems grim.
“People are too stubborn to follow smoking area rules,” said Polonczyk.
And some students are simply disconcerted by the effort entirely, like Melea Trindade, who said, “They [administration] didn’t think it through. They reacted on people’s complaints without thinking about the people who are actually affected by it.”
No one said quitting was easy
A six-week-long smoking cessation program ran on campus from Jan. 21 to Feb. 25. The program offered a support group to students and a variety of supplements to help them quit smoking.
The third round of the program began on Monday, March 15, and will run for six weeks.
The sessions take place weekly from noon to 1 p.m. and again from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m.
They occur on the Boca campus in the Today & Beyond Wellness Center
classroom, SS-222.
For more information and/or to register, call Rosemary Dunbar at (561) 297-3615.
[Source: Rosemary Dunbar, director of FAU’s Today & Beyond Wellness Center]
Where do smokers light up?
In an effort to see if smokers are behaving, the UP stood outside of the Boca campus library and counted sparks on Monday, March 1, between 1 and 2 p.m. Two different tallies were taken: one for cigarettes lit in the designated smoking area, and one for cigarettes lit outside of it. These will be designated by right and wrong, respectively.
[Source: UP survey]
