USF signals smoking plan

University of South Florida student Drew Shatzer says he feels like an endangered species - a smoker.

USF Health designated a smoke-free zone outside its buildings this month, bringing the university one step closer to a campuswide smoking ban.

Already, the Florida Clean Indoor Air Act bans smoking indoors.

The move at USF Health extends the no-smoking zone to 100 feet around the 19 health center buildings on the west end of campus.

Shatzer, 23, understands why it's wise to discourage smoking around a medical center.

But the entire campus?

"It's an awful idea," he said, standing outside the Marshall Center with a group of friends from the USF Rock Climbing Club.

His climbing friends took another view.

Cassie Lubbers, 20, said she can't stand walking through the cigarette haze that hovers around the smokers standing outside the USF library.

"I don't like that smell. I want to smell fresh air," Lubbers said.

"It can be bothersome," chimed in Alexander Henry, though he said smokers should have some place to go on campus to satisfy their cravings.

Each state university can set its own outdoor smoking rules, and they vary from total freedom for outdoor smokers at the University of Central Florida, except in the stadium, to the total ban that's coming to the University of Florida.

On Nov. 1, UF banished all tobacco products, including chew and snuff, from its Health Science Center and Shands hospital. In July, if it gets the Board of Trustees approval on Dec. 11, the ban will extend to the entire UF campus, even in student and visitor cars at UF parking lots.

"We are in the business of educating and training students for the future," said UF's Ed Poppell, vice president for business affairs. "We think a tobacco-free campus is the way to go."

None of these rules have the force of law. The Florida no-smoking law applies only to the inside of state buildings, though USF Health officials have discussed lobbying to the Legislature to extend the ban to the outdoors.

"We expect that responsible behavior will be enforced through peer pressure," Poppell said.

At USF Health, "we're trying to deal with it in a humane and positive manner," said Steven Specter, USF associate dean for student affairs in the College of Medicine.

The college is giving people business-type cards to hand out to smokers in the no-smoking zone.

On one side they say, "USF Health is dedicated to improving the full spectrum of health - from the environment, to the community, to the individual. We ask that you comply by not using tobacco on our campus."

On the opposite side are phone numbers for smoking cessation programs.

Most state universities have rules of some kind. The University of North Florida, in Jacksonville, keeps smokers 25 feet away from buildings and heavily traveled walkways. At Florida State, deans and department chairs can set up "breathe-easy zones" extending 25 to 50 feet from buildings.

Florida Gulf Coast in Fort Myers has designated smoking areas to segregate smokers.

"Non-smokers did not want to walk through a haze of smoke," said Gulf Coast spokeswoman Susan Evans.

USF student Danielle Billmaier, 20, said she would support a policy like that at USF.

Billmaier, too, holds her breath when she walks through the smoky air outside the USF library. And she just stays inside during class breaks because so many students stand just outside the doorways and smoke.

College-age adults are more likely than any other age group to smoke, says the 2007 Florida Behavior Risk Factor Surveillance Survey. More than 22 percent of adults from 18 to 24 years old reported that they smoked compared with about 19 percent statewide.

In Hillsborough County, nearly 26 percent of 18- to 24-year-olds reported being smokers.

People are more vulnerable to smoking in college, says the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. They're under a lot of stress; they're away from their parents; they have a lot of free time.

When colleges and universities started to establish no-smoking policies it was largely because of complaints from other students, said Bronson Frick of the Americans for Nonsmokers' Rights Foundation, based in Berkeley, Calif.

Over time, they also began to look at the role of tobacco on a campus and decided they should take a stand to discourage its use, he said.

Today, the foundation says at least 160 colleges and universities have total bans on campus smoking, up from 34 in 2006.