Nearly a year has gone by since more than 4,100 students voted to pass Cal State Long Beach’s smoking referendum, yet the university still has not become a smoke-free campus.
Last March, 64.22 percent of students who voted in the election voted to approve Referendum #2, which recommended that former CSULB President F. King Alexander ban smoking on campus.
Although the referendum passed, smoking is still allowed in designated areas on campus. Interim President Donald J. Para said the issue is being discussed.
“It’s a topic that we’re paying a lot of attention to,” Para said. “Response is unfolding [and,] one of the things we’re going to have to review is [whether] the [Cal State University is] going to take position for all the campuses … We have not forgotten about it.”
In January 2013, the CSU Academic Senate approved a resolution asking CSU Chancellor Timothy P. White to take “the necessary steps to modify CSU system policy to create a smoke-free university system, including all facilities,” according to the CSU website.
The resolution also called on White to ensure that the sale of tobacco products on CSU campuses will be prohibited, according to the CSU website.
CSU Spokesman Mike Uhlenkamp said the 23-campus system is currently working on developing a smoking policy.
“What we’ve done is we’ve assembled a working group to work at the issue,” Uhlenkamp said. “It is our hope to share [the policy] before the end of 2014.”
Two CSU campuses have banned smoking in the past year. Most other CSU campuses have smoking restrictions in place, such as those banning smoking inside of buildings and within approximately 25 to 50 feet of a building’s main entrance or windows.
On Jan. 1, San Diego State University became the second CSU to ban smoking, according to the SDSU website. Cal State Fullerton became the first on Aug. 1.
CSUF and SDSU’s decision to ban smoking highlights a nationwide trend of establishing smoke-free campuses.
According to the Americans for Nonsmokers’ Rights website, 1,182 colleges and universities are 100 percent smoke-free. The number has more than doubled since October 2011, when only 586 colleges and universities were smoke-free, according to the website.
CSULB students’ opinions varied on the potential smoking restriction. While some students said they would like smoking to be banned, others didn’t see it as an issue.
Sophomore Tyler Granger said he thought the smoking ban could be more effective than CSULB’s current smoking policy.
“Designated [smoking] areas don’t do much,” Granger said. “It’s cool if they want it, but it’s a big space [and] hard to enforce.”
Freshman Kari Scheer, on the other hand, said on-campus smoking didn’t bother her as long as smokers were considerate of non-smokers.
“It’s a public place, and if you’re not bugging anyone with it, it’s not my problem,” freshman Kari Scheer said.
Alex Campos contributed to this report.