Thursday, November 19, 2009
Monica Saha, Overland Park sophmore, and Bridget Heine, St. Louis senior, Peer Health Educators, chalk the sidewalk outside Malott Hall on Wednesday, November 18, 2009, for the Great American Smoke Out, drawing awareness to anti-smoking policies on campus.
While Monica Saha wrote in pink and yellow chalk by the steps of Anschutz Library, onlookers tilted their heads to read the text: “No Smoking within 20 feet of Entrance.” It was written inside a green semi-circle 20 feet from the entrance. An ashtray sat right inside the line.
Saha, Overland Park sophomore, is a peer health educator with Student Health Services. She and two other peer health educators spent Wednesday afternoon chalking boundaries around buildings on campus to illustrate the campus policy posted on building doors that warns smokers to stay 20 feet away from entrances. The chalking was in preparation for the Great American Smokeout today.
As part of the nationwide event, SHS will host informational tables at Anschutz Library from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. to answer questions about tobacco and provide resources to help people quit smoking. Weather permitting, another table will be at Wescoe Beach at the same time.
Although the University has participated in the Great American Smokeout for several years, this is the first year the students marked the 20-foot boundary.
“A lot of students don’t know about the KU policy,” said Ken Sarber, health educator with SHS. “We hope to remind students of the campus policy.”
Chelsea Brown, Olathe junior, has a cigarette after her English class in Wescoe Hall every Tuesday and Thursday. Now that the weather has turned, she seeks solace from the biting cold under the building’s overpass as she switches the cigarette from her left hand to her right to protect her exposed fingers.
Brown said she tried to stay 20 feet from the entrance because she didn’t want to bother people, but that she wasn’t exactly sure how far away she had to be. Also, she said, the ashtrays are usually closer to the doors.
“I don’t really know what 20 feet means,” she said. “So I just jump out to have a cigarette and hope it’s OK.”
The University policy prohibiting Brown and others from smoking within 20 feet of building entrances passed in 1993.
But Sarber said even though some students were aware of the policy, the rule wasn’t really effective.
“Having that policy doesn’t really change anyone’s behavior,” he said. “They’re still smoking right next to the doors.”
Part of the reason the policy isn’t effective, he said, could be lack of enforcement.
The policy instructs people to call the Department of Human Resources and Equal Opportunity with violations as a means of enforcement. Ola Faucher, director of the department, said the department received one or two calls per academic year.
She said most of the time, the student violators aren’t identified.
“If we can’t identify who the students are, it’s very difficult to follow up,” she said.
If it can identify a student, faculty or staff member, Faucher said, the department would work with the chairperson of the program the violator belongs to. After repeat offenses, consequences for students may range from a formal or informal reprimand to a student conduct code violation, which could result in expulsion.
Faucher said the department had issued one reprimand in the time she has worked with the department, but would not disclose to whom or when it happened.
Saha said she hoped the chalk lines would help people identify where they can smoke and protect non-smokers from second hand smoke.
“I hope they realize they shouldn’t be smoking close to the door and should respect others,” she said.
— Edited by Tim Burgess
Smokeout focuses on smoke-free students in 2008
The University's idea is based on the Great American Smokeout. Smokers spend ...
Smokeout events target student smokers
The event, put on by Student Health Services, provides resources to kick ...
The A to Zzzzz's of Napping
Are you a napper?
Gentry: Blowing smoke
Student smokers continue to ignore restrictions across campus, putting others at risk. ...
Pot violations increasing on campus
Statistics show that marijuana use in the dorms has steadily increased over ...
Letter to editor: ‘No Smoking’ signs
Marcoux: Smokers need to pay attention to signs.
Changes to smoking ban could affect local ...
State law will ban smoking within 10 feet of doorways and windows.
Art and Design building evacuated
The Art and Design building was evacuated Monday afternoon after smoke alarms ...
Student reports rape at Lorimar Town Home
An unidentified man reportedly raped a KU student in her Lorimar Town ...
Able life
The University is far from the ideal campus for students with mobility ...
Players involved in second fight
Students report football and basketball team members scuffle behind Budig Hall.
A sobering conversation
University struggles to address the complexities of alcohol policy in the wake ...
Boardwalk survivors remember one year later
Since last October's Boardwalk fire, survivors have had 12 months to heal, ...
College smoking creates concern for future
Students have resources on campus to quit smoking despite societal and emotional ...
Aid the struggle against AIDS
World AIDS Day offers students the chance to increase their knowledge on ...
Life as residential assistant present challenges, enjoyment
Residential assistants are seen as both good and bad cops.
Buildings inaccessible
Buildings without water; street floods
A water-main break on Wednesday flooded West Campus Road yet left halls ...
McNaughton: Smokers refuse to acknowledge health problems
I still don’t understand because smokers smell and taste terrible.
Local smokers face further restrictions
Bill mandates outdoor smokers be 10 feet away from restaurant doors and ...
Health Authority wants state smoking ban
The Kansas Health Policy Authority proposed a 50 cent per pack user ...
Watkins Health Center to host Spring Smokeout
Gatherings on Wescoe Beach and the lawn of Watkins Health Center will ...
A generation ablaze
Forty years ago today, the Kansas Union burned during one of the ...
Extinguishing the Gaslight's last flame
The Gaslight Tavern, a hippie hangout in the 1960s and a popular ...
Phi Gamma Delta placed on probation for ...
FIJI placed on probation for hazing.
Overworked students' dangerous race against time
Is too much work and too little time putting students' health at ...
State bill could end local smoking ban
New legislation would overturn the long-established non-smoking ordinance in Lawrence.
Health program targets nicotine
This six-week free smoking cessation program assists students kick their long-term smoking ...
Students protest financial aid drug policy
Students who are convicted drug users may be unable to afford college. ...
Regan: Smoking taboo doesn't fly abroad
Smoking in Ireland more acceptable than in U.S.
Malicious Intimacy
Four students' experiences with domestic violence.
Hashinger to get face lift
Theft tops the list of campus crimes
Campus robbery is still a problem despite a steady decrease in recent ...
Securing their safety
Student ghetto sees high crime rate
Police statistics show that more crimes happen in this area than in ...
Assault reiterates dorm safety importance
Students living on campus need to be aware of surroundings to ensure ...
Alcohol related deaths could impact dorm privacy
Change to policy could eliminate need for search warrants in dorms.
Basketball and football players scuffle outside Wescoe ...
The fight started after one of the Morris twins pushed a football ...
New complex brings out the ‘whoa-factor’
From 58 TVs to an underground weight room, the football facility promises ...
Kansas Jayhawk fans hold aloft a reproduction of ...
2 comments
Erin Saupe, a Ph.D. student from St. Cloud, ...
1 comment
0 comments
Armed robbers continue to threaten.
3 comments
Lecture from Greg Mortenson, co-author of New York ...
0 comments
KUnited presidential candidate Libby Johnson and vice presidential ...
1 comment
Comments
Group tries to raise tobacco awareness
Maybe they should move the ashtrays to about twenty feet from the door.
Sign in to comment
Or login with:
OpenID