학내 흡연

     Last April 30th, some female students came together in front of College of Humanities Building 3 at Chonnam National University (CNU). They looked at each other and smoked to cry out for women’s right to smoke. Even though many students did not know or remember that day, it was a flash mob which makes us think about the right to smoke. Smoking on campus has brought conflict between smokers and non-smokers. The Chonnam Tribune suggests that CNUians think about smoking on campus and try to find ways to solve the problem.
Smoking is prohibited on campus except some smoking areas.
Conflict between Smokers and Non-smokers
On the CNU campus, there are some areas where students usually smoke, for example, in front of Main Library annex, Language Education Center 1 or in front of College of Engineering Building 7. When we go to these areas, we can see smokers easily and countless cigarette butts on the ground. It seems that smoker’s think the areas are a designated smoking zone.
However, smoking on campus is banned. From July 1th, 2013, National Health Promotion Law that has recently revised prohibited smoking in institutions of higher education except some smoking areas. People smoking in non-smoking areas will face up a 100,000 won fine. Park Sa-ra (Junior, Dept. of Mathematics) said smoking on campus should be entirely prohibited because it is in violation of the law. Also, cigarette smoking makes non-smokers uncomfortable. “It does not feel good at all to smell cigarettes at the beginning of the day, during breaks or on my way home suffering from exhaustion. I hope they understand other people’s feelings and stop doing that.”
Smokers are saying that they have their right to smoke by their preference, but they cannot smoke due to the law prohibiting smoking on campus. The purpose of this law is good, but it is unacceptable for smokers because there is no alternative to them when they want to smoke in the university. Kim Hyun-seung (Senior, Dept. of Biology) said, “Smokers, including me are gifted with conscience, we do not smoke in clean areas, but smoking areas are hard to find on the Yongbong campus. Not long ago, I found out there are smoking areas on the campus such as around benches between the College of Natural Sciences 2 and 3 Buildings. There is no smoking area sign, so we cannot help but smoke somewhere else.”
 
Practical Solutions for the Campus Smoking Problem
Up to now, when students have been complaining to the CNU Health Service Center about cigarette smoking on campus, the center has reported to the police because CNU has no school regulations for smoking. To solve the campus smoking problem, such institutional solutions as designating smoking areas indoor and outdoor on campus and putting up signs saying “No Smoking” or “Smoking Area” around campus are needed. Jeong Kwon-tae, the team leader of the health center said that campus smoking is now a difficult problem to solve but designating smoking areas could be a measure after having discussions with smokers. It is because in the case of other universities, they designated some public places as smoking areas, but students usually do not use these smoking permitted places and smoke in non-smoking areas.
Now the CNU Health Service Center is on an antismoking campaign. If you go in front of this center, you can see tobacco warning posters. As part of a green or clean campus movement at several universities in Korea, students have also conducted antismoking campaigns voluntarily. Kim Min-kyu (General Student Councils President) said, “We have discussed this issue several times but we have not made any plan for this problem since the last discussion. I think we need to talk with university headquarters about this problem for an institutional framework and smoking facilities.”
CNU Health Service Center is carrying an anti-smoking campaign
Mutual Respect and Tolerance Needed
However, designated smoking rooms and areas on campus cannot be a total solution. Students should also endeavor to solve this problem and to respect the rights of others. Non-smokers should tolerate second-hand smoking in approved smoking zone. And smokers should smoke only in the smoking areas and be very careful to protect the rights of non-smokers. With all of students’ effort for respecting each other’s rights, we can make a clean and beautiful CNU campus together. CNUians need to watch this issue with interest.
 
By Lim Seon-young, Student Editor
저작권자 © Chonnam Tribune 무단전재 및 재배포 금지