"We are making decisions that protect a very small segment of the population," Linda LaSalle, CSAP member and coordinator of educational services at UHS, said. "It's not a personal rights issue; it's a public health issue."
LaSalle said if she were to stand outside and release large amounts of carbon dioxide, she would be arrested because it would be hazardous to people and the environment. Essentially, that's what smokers do, she said.
Becker responded that if LaSalle wanted to, she could see if police would arrest smokers.
The commission questioned the decision of the university smoking policy committee, which did not accept CSAP's recommendations to ban smoking within a specific distance of campus buildings.
Becker said he believes the current policy is already "fairly straightforward" in moving smoking away from entranceways and windows where it can affect the internal conditions. It allows students, faculty and staff to address the problem if someone's smoking outside is affecting them, he said.
A few members of the commission disagreed, saying there were significant problems with the policy.
Numerous people complained about the situation because while they can ask specific individuals to move away from the building while smoking, it does not keep people from coming back, said Anna Zacher, CSAP member and community health educator for University Health Services (UHS).
"They may not even know the policy exists ... and they don't think they can enforce it," Tyrone Parham, CSAP member and assistant director of University Police operations, said. "A lot of people are uncomfortable addressing it."
One CSAP member, Sam Monismith, associate professor of health education at Penn State Harrisburg, said the current policy was not adequate. "If campuses are writing their own policies, then the university policy is not effective," he added, referring to the Lehigh Valley campus, which has a complete smoking ban.
Becker said Penn State isn't at the point yet where they could implement a campus-wide smoking ban but that gradually, there will be fewer smokers.
"Perhaps at some point in time we can say it took care of itself," Becker said.
The commission decided that they would meet with the entire university smoking policy committee before the semester ends.
"I felt like we didn't have enough time to fully get into the discussion because we were limited by the time of the meeting," Zacher said.
Brian Mauro, CSAP chairman, said the smoke-free campus policy at Penn State Lehigh Valley has been very successful particularly because the campus used a social marketing approach.
Penn State Harrisburg is also looking at the smoking issue and is considering implementing a smoke-free policy next fall, Monismith said.
"Smoking of any material is prohibited in all University facilities, at all locations, including University-owned vehicles. It also is prohibited in any outside area adjacent to a facility whose configuration and/or other physical circumstances allow smoke either to enter and affect the internal environment or to unduly affect the environment of those entering or exiting the facility.