Smoke-free rule still in adjustment period

By: Miriam Arias/Staff Writer

Last spring,  students, faculty and staff were met by a smoke/tobacco free initiative by the University but as of yet don’t know what will happen if they light a cigarette.

Made effective on January 1, 2011, this initiative, which was approved by the University Board of Trustees in fall 2010, bans all use of tobacco related products from all campuses.

The initiative was faced with mixed student feedback at the time, with many claiming that members of the campaign for a smoke-free campus were not communicating their goals properly with the University.

Now, more than six months after its implementation, the regulation of a smoke-free tobacco-free campus is still adjusting.

Strict enforcement of the regulation usually takes about 6 to 12 months, according to Assistant Director of the University Health Services Mariela Gabaroni, a main advocate of the program.

Until this time concludes, if found violating the tobacco-free regulation, students are generally asked to refrain from doing so again.

“I believe most individuals are supportive of the new tobacco-free environment and are respectful of the new regulation,” said Gabaroni.

Student sentiment has been varying; some find themselves to be very approving of the regulation, others disagree, and others seem to want a middle ground.

“It’s a good because you’re not exposing other people to the carcinogens in cigarette smoke,” said junior biology major Erin Muro. “If a person chooses not to smoke, they shouldn’t have to smell someone’s second-hand smoke.  Smoking zones could work but I like that it’s a smoke-free campus.”

Similarly, Gabriela Teresa Gonzalez a junior journalism major stated, “For myself personally, it bothers me, but it’s every ones choice whether they would like to or not so there should be designated areas where you can smoke.”

To date, no official petitions have been made against the initiative.

Due to her involvement in the promotion of campus health, Gabaroni was named chair of the Steering Committee last summer whose purpose was to educate the University community about the new regulation being implemented and to further communicate the resources available to students, faculty and staff.

While the initiative was approved and put into effect by the administration, students also partook in the process of making the University smoke free.

Student Jesus Medina formed Smoke-free Tobacco-free Official Panther Partners as part of a project for his master’s of public health.

The organization’s intention was to organize students that were advocating for a healthier, smoke-free campus environment.

These students agreed to take a stand towards the enforcement of the regulation.

“STOPP was a key organization in the process to take students’ opinions and demands to the table of discussion and agree on the best for the FIU community,” Medina said.

STOPP is currently applying social enforcement to stop the use of tobacco on campus; however, it is not active because the penalties for those students and/or staff that still refuse to adhere by the regulation are not yet settled on.

The policy is to ensure a healthier environment in the University, according to Medina.

“The few students that were against it were heavy smoker students that didn’t care about hurting the people next to them,” he said. “We had one-to-one conversations with them and many of them understood that we were health-oriented for the best of them.”

UHS offers several services for individuals who are being affected by the new regulation.

Among these are consultations to those who wish to fight their addiction and free auricular acupuncture and aromatherapy on Friday by appointment.  There are also tobacco management sessions to those who do not wish to quit their tobacco habit, but who need help to avoid it on campus.  

For the time being, students caught violating the regulation will be handled case by case; that is, they will be talked to and asked to stop.

However, “the University is planning on implementing an official enforcement in the near future,” Gabaroni said.