Spartan Daily - Serving San Jose State University since 1934

Issue date: 11/19/07 Section: News

Media Credit: Sarrah S. Nguyen Matthew Heluza, a freshman Management Information Systems major, signs a petition in support of a smoke-free campus on Thursday.

In the early 1960s, a high school teacher asked his class if anyone smoked. One fourteen-year old student raised her hand and was asked to smoke a cigarette in front of the class while the teacher monitored her heart rate and blood pressure.

At the time, the dangers associated with smoking were not well understood, said Michele Mashburn, an SJSU masters student in sociology, whose mother had volunteered to be the class guinea pig.

Mashburn, a peer health educator, was one of the organizers of the The Great American Smokeout, an event held Nov. 14 urging students not just to quit smoking for the day, but also for good. Volunteers for the event were collecting signatures petitioning for a smoke-free campus, said peer-health educator Gina Vittori.

For Mashburn, who said she has watched her mother struggle with cigarette addiction, helping people to quit smoking is an issue she feels strongly about.

"She's tried medication. She's tried the patch. She's tried the gum," said Mashburn, who estimated that her mother spends $175 a month on cigarettes.

But over the years she has learned to be more realistic about expecting her mother to quit cold turkey.

"With her I tend to say, 'smoke less,' as opposed to 'stop smoking,'" Mashburn said. She added that people shouldn't be discouraged if they "fall off the wagon" trying to quit.

Event organizer, Megan Young, a sophomore political science major, who is also the president of the SJSU chapter of Colleges Against Cancer, said the goal of the event was to "try to get as many people to quit as possible," as well as to reinforce the health hazards associated with smoking.

Colleges Against Cancer is a committee working to create designated smoking areas on campus and eventually make SJSU smoke-free.

But while some believe the conversation surrounding a smoke-free campus is a health issue, others believe it's an issue of individual freedom.

"That's the first question I asked when it was brought up to me. What about the smoker's rights?" said President Don Kassing at a Nov. 6 news conference.

Continued...

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