The Associated Students, Inc. Senate clarified that students will not be cited for smoking on campus in Wednesday night’s meeting.
“We are trying to create a supportive environment,” ASI Senator-at-Large Samuel King said. “Not a hostile one where students will be punished.”
The smoking ban is not being enforced for the next three years, so students who are caught smoking will not be punished, according to ASI Vice President Logan Vournas
“We refer [smokers] to the Health Center where that can find more information to help them,” Vournas said.
At the beginning of September, Cal State Long Beach became a smoke-free campus, enacting a zero tolerance policy for the use of tobacco, smoke or vapor (electronic cigarettes) products on campus.
Before the ban, CSULB created the Breathe Campaign, an outreach program designed to inform students of the ban and distribute smoking cessation resources.
However, with the less hostile approach, students are still smoking on campus.
“We are having issues with students smoking behind the Molecular Science Building,” said Hajer Rawag, senator of the College of Natural Science and Math. “This is a problem because the smoke is getting in through the vents and damaging the equipment in the labs.”
As of now, ASI does not have a solution to counteract students smoking behind the Molecular Science building.
ASI announced that the Beach Pantry will be holding its grand re-opening ceremony Oct. 26 from 11 a.m. to noon.
The Beach Pantry is a program that provides food to students who are not be able to afford it otherwise. Students can use the pantry, located on the third floor of the University Student Union, once a week.
“The Beach Pantry at CSULB has blazed a trail for other California State Universities, like California State University, Northridge, to start [its] own pantry,” Vournas said.
Last on the agenda, senior Danielle Caracho, was elected as senator-at-large for Lobby Corps.
Lobby Corps is the organization responsible for traveling to Washington, D.C. and lobbying on behalf of the university and its students.
Caracho will be responsible for handling student voter registration. She said she wants to get the most out of her last year of college and serve as a student leader.