Some smokers on campus say they are planning to resist the smoking ban that takes effect in all University buildings starting April 3.

About 12 members of Pennsylvanians Who Smoke, a newly formed group of students, faculty and staff members who oppose the smoking ban, plan to continue smoking in University buildings despite the rule, PAWS spokesman Jack Williams said.

"We are not going to do any protest marches or smoke-ins. Our position is that for any person who is disciplined for breaking the new policy, we will probably take legal action, and I am prepared to do that," said Williams, a former prosecuting attorney and assistant professor in the department of administration of justice.

About 250 people have signed a PAWS petition demanding that the policy not take affect, Williams said.

The new policy will ban smoking in all University buildings and vehicles but will allow smoking in private residences, said Bill Hetrick, director of development in the Office of Human Resources. The University may eventually grant exceptions to the policy for public businesses such as the HUB Eateries and the Nittany Lion Inn, Hetrick said.

While anyone may point out the no-smoking policy to someone observed smoking, deans and administrative officers are responsible for delivering official reprimands and carrying out discipline, said John Saunders, project assistant at the University's Office of Human Resources.

"The process is uniform. Each work unit will have the responsibility of enforcing the policy," Hetrick said. "What is not uniform is how the process is carried out. One work unit may choose to move in on a problem immediately while another may not."

Williams said he believes the policy violates the Fair Labor Standards Act because supervisors may choose the disciplinary action they take toward violators, and this could lead to disparity of treatment to employees.

Michael Corcran, district director of the wage and hour division of the U.S. Department of Labor, said the policy may interfere with equal employment laws. "There could be a problem with the policy . . . it doesn't seem to be under the jurisdiction of the Fair Labor Standards Act."

Saunders, however, discounted any violation of equal employment laws.

Hetrick said the new policy will be enforced in the same way other current University policies are, through "the same kind of progressive discipline policy in effect now."

"We're not talking about a run-of-the-mill policy; we're talking about a radical policy," Williams said. "No one else in the public sector has come up with an absolute smoking ban. If interpreted strictly this policy could result in smoking being banned at Beaver Stadium," he added.

Hetrick said that the policy -- which does not include Beaver Stadium -- was formulated because of the Surgeon General's 1983 report on the danger of smoking and his 1986 report on the dangers of second-hand smoke.

A number of hospitals and schools have implemented smoking bans, said Karen Kuchinski, a secretary with the Lung Association of Pennsylvania.

"Second-hand smoke is hazardous to non-smokers and can cause lung cancer," said Brenda Nicholas, divisional director of the American Lung Association of Central Pennsylvania, adding that 2,400 people die from second-hand smoke every year, according to the Surgeon General. "(The policy) would be a help to non-smokers because they won't be exposed to the chemicals in cigarettes."

Williams said, "The issue is not whether one should smoke or not. The issue is the rights of individuals to exercise certain freedoms. The issue is that of a policy being imposed on a fairly large group of people without their participation in the formulation of that policy."

Williams claims there are at least 3,000 smokers on campus. Nicholas offered a similar estimate, saying at least 3,200 people in the University community smoke.