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Tobacco-free campus?

Student leaders at Colorado State University-Pueblo are exploring whether the campus should go tobacco-free.

The Associated Students' Government formed a committee in September to study whether changes should be made to the university's current policy, which prohibits smoking in any university building and within 20 feet of any building entrance.

"There have been concerns that the smoking stations are too close to the building entrances," said Lindsey Reeves, a student government leader and a member of the research committee. "Right now, there are a lot of schools going to a smoking ban. It's kind of a growing trend. We, as student leaders, decided to take a closer look at our policy."

Reeves said the Tobacco Policy Research and Recommendation committee was charged with researching the topic and then developing a recommendation to bring to the government board.

A tobacco-use survey of students and faculty and staff has been conducted, and public hearings have been held. Students also have been able to e-mail comments to committee members, Reeves said. "We want to gather as much student input as we can before we make any decisions," she said. "Right now, there is no cut-and-dried decision. We are looking at everything from a complete ban to doing nothing at all with our current policy."

Reeves said the committee had hoped to make a recommendation on any changes to the policy at the ASG's Oct. 26 meeting.

She said the committee met for several hours on Thursday and decided it needed to do further research on the topic before bringing forth recommendations for any major policy changes.

Policy changes must be approved by the university administration before they can be implemented.

The committee, however, will present a resolution Wednesday to seek stricter enforcement of the current policy and to require better clean-up of litter left behind by smokers.

The board will meet at 3:30 p.m. in the ASG chambers, located on the second floor of the Occhiato University Center.

Reeves said the recommendation will be to strictly enforce that smokers and smoking paraphernalia remain at least 20 feet away from building entrances.

The current policy requires the campus community to be responsible for enforcingthe policy.

The recommendation also will seek to have the university enforce the littering laws with regard to the trash left behind by smokers.

Finally, Reeves said a student senate leadership committee will be charged with continuing the research on any further tobacco policy changes.

"The Tobacco Research and Recommendation Committee believes this recommendation will allow all students, staff and faculty at CSU-Pueblo the opportunity to not be affected by smoke while entering or exiting any building," Reeves said. "It will also allow the campus community the opportunity to take a sense of pride in their campus and begin to clean up the mess smoking has caused."

Reeves said while student leaders continue to research the smoking topic, student input will remain central to the discussion.

"We're getting a lot of feedback from both sides of the issue," she said. "Those opposed to any proposed policy change say it's their right to smoke as long as they are outside, where they are not hurting others, and they are respectful of non-smokers."

She said those in favor of an all-campus ban said the health benefits are the major reason they would support a change.

"Everybody has a strong opinion, and that's good because we're getting students involved," she said. "It's a drastic change from the past. It's good to see that students are interested in this topic and, more importantly, that they are interested in the university.

"This is our university, and if we don't take a proactive approach, who's going to do it?" she added. "We think it's a huge step for this university for the students to gain a voice and stand up for their rights and make this university their own."