Smoking regulations on campus could change in coming months with proposed resolutions by Faculty Senate and a petition supporting one of the resolutions, which had about 1,500 signatures as of Wednesday.
One of the Faculty Senate resolutions aims to make improvements and better enforce the 25-feet-away-from-buildings rule, while the other seeks to make the University a smoke-free campus. The resolutions will be presented to the Faculty Senate on April 11.
LSU Libraries senators Michael Russo and Stephanie Braunstein will present the resolution and petition to make the University smoke-free as well as establish a task force to help implement the bill, Russo said.
Russo said there is a petition in the library as well as one at a table at the Health and Wellness Fair held Wednesday. He said there has been vandalism to the petition in the form of obscenities and fake names, like someone who signed as President Barack Obama.
Russo said if the smoke-free campus resolution passes, there will be no need for the other resolution.
Russo said the smoke-free resolution, if passed, will go into effect for the 2012-13 academic year and will apply to visitors, students, faculty and staff.
Faculty Senate President Kevin Cope said the other resolution aims to move smokers away from buildings.
“All of the motions are driven by prohibiting smoking in entryways,” Cope said.
He said when people smoke in the entryways and people exit the building, the smoke is drawn back into the building.
“It’s a warm front pushing on a cold front, you might say,” Cope said.
He said smoking enforcement is an issue students need to address. Cope said students should use “peer pressure” in enforcing the policies by asking students to move away from buildings or reporting them to building managers.
Aaron Wascom, electrical engineering sophomore, said he obeys the rule of staying at least 25 feet away from buildings while smoking and is willing to comply with others’ wishes.
“If someone asks me, I have no problem putting it out or moving,” Wascom said.
Russo said enforcement of a smoke-free campus will be a challenge, but he has spoken with representatives of the universities of Arkansas and Kentucky about their successes with the ban.
“The situation at those places is that people are informed the campus is non-smoking,” he said.
Russo said there have been no citations or arrests over the ban at other campuses. Russo said the bans at other campuses haven’t been 100 percent effective, but they have made positive impacts.
“It’s more of an educational type of enforcement,” Russo said.
Student Government President J Hudson said the resolution lacks enforcement, and “we wouldn’t be in the current situation” if people obeyed the 25-feet law.
“It’s like the kids rolling down the Indian Mounds [at football games],” Hudson said. “What are they going to do, tase a bunch of 5-year-olds?”
Cope said there isn’t a way to avoid making some people angry.
“It’s my experience in every experience, someone will be outraged,” Cope said.
Cope said the University has some large open spaces that allow options for smokers. He said if Faculty Senate passes a resolution, it will have to be signed into effect by the provost.
Joe Poynot, mechanical engineering sophomore, said banning smoking outside doesn’t matter to him.
Bebe Rafferty, psychology freshman, said the resolution to ban smoking will help those affected by secondhand smoke as well as help others quit smoking.
“It will help some people because they will have less opportunity to smoke,” Rafferty said.
John Methe, agriculture freshman, said the only issue outdoors is the smell.
“It’s absolutely silly,” Methe said. “This is a right. It’s my personal freedom.”
 
—-
Contact Celeste Ansley at [email protected]