Sunday, May 19, 2013

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Students at UAA Campaign for Smoke-Free Campus
Petitions signed on day of Great American Smokeout
By Lauren Maxwell
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ANCHORAGE - Some students at UAA are pushing to have their campus go smoke-free.

Workers with the American Lung Association on Thursday were circulating a petition among students asking that the current smoking policy be changed. Right now people are allowed to smoke outside, but Brianne Villar with the Lung Association said even that puts people at risk.

“They believe that second hand smoke, once it gets in the air, all goes away. But chemicals in the cigarettes and the cigarette smoke is harmful to everyone around you,” said Villar.

More than a hundred students had signed the petition by midday Thursday, which also happened to be the 37th anniversary of the Great American Smokeout. It asks to ban all smoking on campus, including parking lots and in vehicles.

The petition will go next to the UAA Student Government Council. It will then be up to the UAA chancellor to make the final call. If the entire campus does go smoke-free, it would be the first in the university system.