Whitney Kobey, a print journalism junior, said she walks onto the Downtown campus every week only to be barraged by cigarette smoke.
Simple luxuries like eating lunch outside are disrupted by people smoking near the various buildings that make up the Downtown campus, Kobey said.
“It’s gross,” she said. “It makes my eyes water – it makes me breathe funnier.”
ASASUD is currently discussing a partial ban or the possibility of designated smoking zones on campus after recently passing a resolution that supported the idea of a smoke-free campus.
Kobey is one student who feels that there should be designated smoking areas on the Downtown campus rather than a ban on the entire campus.
“Smoking is a choice, but it’s a choice that affects everyone,” Kobey said. “It’s legal for people to smoke and it’s legal for people not to, and neither group should have their rights taken away.”
Even though Kobey agreed that smokers have rights, she expressed concern of another person’s choice to smoke having a negative effect on her body.
“It’s just that I care a lot about my health, and I don’t want other people making choices for me,” she said.
Jessica Rush, a journalism junior, said smoking hinders her experience on the Downtown campus, where she attends classes and socializes. Unlike Kobey, she believes there should be a full smoking ban.
Rush, who was raised with a mother that smoked, said smoking makes her angry because it endangers smokers and non-smokers alike.
“I would rather (smokers) walk down the street than step right outside the (Walter Cronkite school) building, blowing smoke in my face,” she said.
Matthew Nevarez, a social work freshman, however, said he feels that students should have the right to smoke and a full-campus smoking ban could raise safety concerns.
“We’re all adults -we make our own decisions,” said Nevarez, who supports the development of designated smoking areas.
Julianna Cossman, an exploratory studies freshman, agreed, as a smoker, that the main problem with a campus smoking ban would be the safety of the student smokers. If the ban were implemented, students like Cossman would continue to smoke no matter the location, but it could jeopardize their safety, she said.
“To promote safety and to promote the well-being of the students is one thing, but sending them two blocks down on Van Buren isn’t a good thing,” Cossman said, adding that designated smoking areas would be the best solution.
Limiting on-campus smoking could also drive more students into smoking in restricted locations like Taylor Place, according to Emily Elkind, a tourism senior and community assistant at Taylor Place.
“People would try to be more secretive about it, so they’d probably be more likely to do it in areas that they weren’t supposed to,” Elkind said.
Others feel that there should not be any smoking limitations at the Downtown campus because of the difficulty in enforcing the rules and the lack of impact it would have.
“I think where the downtown people smoke right now is fine,” said Nichole Dojka, a nursing junior. “I just think because the Downtown campus is so small, if they tried to make a designated area, it would be a really big inconvenience.”
Contact the reporter at vpelham@asu.edu
