By Lauren Hammond

Opinion Editor

Entering from the southern most part of campus between the Science Hall 1 and Markstein buildings, people will run into a pleasant looking bench, often filled with students. Taking a closer look, the tranquil scene rapidly deteriorates as the air becomes filled with a grim haze of cigarette smoke.

The Markstein “smoking bench” is an appalling aspect of CSUSM policy. The bench condones student smoking, despite its many devastating risks. It is necessary for the CSUSM authority heads to look at the facts and reexamine current campus smoking policies.

This area in particular is a high traffic zone on campus. Thousands of students pass this sector on a daily basis, breathing in the corroded linger of secondhand smoke. Exposure is dangerous, volatile and ultimately unfair to those who refrain from smoking due to health concerns.

According to the CSUSM Director of Management and Safety, Regina Frasca, the benches have been in place since 2010. The area was specifically created to provide students a place to smoke in regards to the many challenges the area faced prior to the implantation of the benches.

“At the time, it had been a difficult area for the occupants of the Science building and those who were walking between the Science Hall I and Academic Hall. Smokers lined up and sat on the existing planters and benches aside each buildings which caused many complaints and enforcement challenges,” Frasca said.

The initial construction of the Markstein smoking area was provided by the campus in order to distance smokers from the surrounding buildings. Therefore, “accommodating” the needs of campus smokers.

According to the anti-smoking campaign, Truth, “Big Tobacco’s products kill 137 people from secondhand smoke everyday.”

The Markstein smoking area is an injustice to non-smokers on campus. CSUSM is an educational community and it is the responsibility of the campus to protect both its faculty and students from exposure to secondhand smoke. The relationship between smokers and nonsmokers remains strained. However, the social implications of someone harming their own body are far less than when a person’s habits begin to affect the health of others around them.

There is always the possibility for change. Frasca provides nonsmokers with hope.

“The philosophy is that when this designated smoking area closes, the campus community will continue to have a nice sitting area central to these buildings,” Frasca said.

Thousands of universities throughout the US have already adopted nonsmoking policies on campus. Students in support of a smoke-free learning environment need to begin advocating for CSUSM campus health and wellbeing. The only way to achieve reformation is to demand change. It is time for students claim their right to fresh air.