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September 3
New smoking policy on campus

Phase I is part of three-phase plan for Keystone to become smoke-free campus.

Cari Tomczyk Abington Journal Correspondent

LA PLUME - Keystone College issued a smoking policy beginning with the Fall semester which prohibits anyone from smoking on campus outside the designated smoking/tobacco areas. This is Phase I of a three phase plan that Keystone College is implementing. Phase III will ultimately result in Keystone College becoming a smoke-free campus. According to the campus Web site, the policy pertains to faculty and staff, as well as students and visitors. Six designated areas include gazebos that have been created and assigned and are the only locations where smoking is permitted on campus.

Students smoking last week in designated smoking area on campus at Keystone College.

Abington Journal photos/Cari Tomczyk

When asked what he thinks will happen if Keystone College becomes a smoke-free campus, student Colton Ferrick said, “People will smoke anyway.”

Second year Culinary Arts student Noah Wood said that he smokes more now. “It is a hike to get to the smoking area; so instead of having one cigarette, I’ll have three.”

Non-smoker, Kurtis Beaver, a sophomore at Keystone, said, “People smoking around me doesn’t bother me. It’s their lungs, not mine.”

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Fran Calpin, Senior Director of College Relations, explained that most employers and colleges promote a healthier work place and recognize the danger in both smoking and second-hand smoke. “For people that feel they need to smoke, there is an opportunity to do so, but we want to make the campus as safe and healthy as possible.”

Calpin said that Keystone College is just following the National movement to have smoke- free workplaces. He also acknowledged that the policy is new and people are going to have to get used to it.

However, the school offers a program to help: smoking cessation programs are offered free of charge throughout the academic year.

As listed on http://www.keystone.edu/policies/smoking_policy.dot, fines will be issued from $25 to $50 if this policy is not followed. There may not be tobacco use in any vehicle or facility on the campus.

The new smoking policy has sparked a debate among students and those on campus.

Antonia Castro, student, believes the gazebos or as she called them, “smoking huts” are too crowded. “I don’t think they’ll be able to make the campus smoke-free because there are too many students and faculty that smoke. There are faculty in the huts all the time.”

Tom Myer, a senior student, feels that the policy makes people smoke more because the gazebos have become hangouts. Student Katie Walsh, said she is strongly against the designated smoking areas. “It is the most ridiculous thing I ever heard. It doesn’t make anyone smoke less; if anything, it makes them smoke more.” On the flip side, a staff member who works in the Education Division said, “It’s nice to not have to walk through smoke when coming out of a building. Having the smoke confined in certain areas has been a pleasant change.”

Similarly, Kitiara Stecher and Bobby White, both students, noted that it is nice to sit or walk on campus without smoke surrounding them. Second year Culinary Arts students, Jon Bidgood, Noah Wood and Jared Neville, all said they feel that the policy infringes on their rights. “Everyone is talking about the issue,” said Wood. Wood also explained that he smokes more now because, “It is a hike to get to the smoking area. So instead of having one cigarette, I’ll have three.”

Non-smoker Kurtis Beaver, a sophomore at Keystone, said, “People smoking around me doesn’t bother me. It’s their lungs, not mine.” Beaver said he is against the smoking policy. “No one should have say over any person’s life. I hang out around smokers and that is my own choice. People can choose not be around it.”

Eric Hinkel, a student, expressed that he doesn’t like to be around the smoke but he understands the addiction. “If I was a smoker, I’d be mad about the new policy.”

Calpin commented on the long range goal of the college. “Eventually we want to make the College smoke-free. However, it could be years; there really is no time frame or time limit we’re going by.” Keystone College supports the Pennsylvania Clean Indoor Air Act of 1988.

Non-smoking students, Colton Ferrick and Ashley Hoover, are in favor of the designated areas for smokers. When asked what he thinks will happen if Keystone College becomes a smoke-free campus, Ferrick said that, “People will smoke anyway.”

A female freshman student said she thought it was a good idea to gradually limit smoking areas as opposed to creating a smoke-free environment all at once. “No one ever wants to tell someone to not to smoke in front of them; so I think the gazebos are a good idea. The smokers can smoke, but just not around me”.