Despite recent setbacks, the Penn State Commission for Substance Abuse Prevention (CSAP) will continue to push for tougher smoking policies on campus.

CSAP's recommendations for a smoking ban within a specific distance of university buildings have been rejected twice.

However, tomorrow, CSAP will meet with John Becker, chairman of the university smoking policy committee, to discuss the committee's decision.

The committee decided not to change the current policy because the closeness of some university buildings would cause certain areas of campus to become completely smoke-free, Becker said.

"Creating this kind of rule would create confusion," Becker said, adding that it would be hard to determine where on the building the distance would begin.

Susan Kennedy, CSAP member and associate director for educational services at University Health Services, said CSAP is seeking further explanation to prompt discussion on the topic.

"We understand how complex it is," Kennedy said. "But we thought that it would still benefit from further discussion."

Kennedy has said her long-term objective for University Park is to have a smoke-free campus.

According to a 2004 Penn State Pulse survey, 23 percent of students on campus smoke regularly.

A new smoking policy was implemented on March 6, but it did not include any of the CSAP recommendations.

The new policy states that areas considered to be "residential living," such as the Nittany Lion Inn and the Penn Stater Conference Center Hotel, will need to apply for exemptions if they want to continue to allow smoking in their facilities, Becker said.

But while the Penn Stater is planning to apply for the exemption, the Nittany Lion Inn is already planning to be smoke-free by July 1, Jim Purdum, general manager of hospitality services, said.

Smoking on campus isn't cheap for the university, Office of Physical Plant (OPP) spokesman Paul Ruskin said.

Each year, OPP spends $150,000 to clean up cigarette butts and other cigarette litter on campus -- a cost that could be eliminated if students properly threw away their butts, Ruskin said.

This includes the labor costs of two employees who have the explicit job of cleaning up cigarette butts and emptying the various containers on campus.

Meanwhile, Ruskin said, the janitorial staff spends 7,000 hours each year picking up cigarette litter and the landscaping crew spends 100 hours each week doing the same task.

The cost doesn't include the original price of the equipment, which consists of 700 containers at $300 each and two special ride-on vacuum machines primarily used to pick up the butts that cost $25,000, Ruskin said. "The bottom line is that it would cost less to operate the university," he said.