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Vol. LIX, Issue 744 www.Daily49er.com Monday, August 18, 2014
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Mens Basketball Page 6
MEET JANE CONOLEY PAGE 3
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CSULB ban on smoking awaits approval The student body president said the new university president agreed to review the issue.
By Crystal Niebla News Editor
A ban on smoking at Cal State Long Beach still waits for approval from campus administration after students voted for a smoke-free campus a year ago. At a recent Associated Students Inc. Senate meeting, ASI President Joseph Phillips reminded the senate that in order to place the ban, CSULB President Jane Close Conoley must approve the smoking referendum. He said that former President F. King Alexander had chosen not to
make a decision about this referendum because he was already in the process of leaving his position with CSULB. Phillips said that Interim President Donald J. Para never looked to determine the fate of this referendum either, as his time in the role of university president was intended to be temporary. “President Conoley is interested in taking a look at our campus smoking referendum from two years back,” he said.
Phillips said he brought the issue up with Conoley over lunch and said she agreed to review the issue. The referendum was voted on in March 2013 where more than 4,100 students voted to pass CSULB’s new smoking ban. 64.22 percent of students who voted in the election approved Referendum #2, which recommended that Alexander ban smoking on campus. Currently, smoking is still allowed in designated areas on campus. Two other campuses San Diego
State and Cal State Fullerton already banned smoking on their campus. Citywide, in March, the Long Beach City Council voted unanimously to categorize electronic cigarettes with tobacco products, thereby restricting the use of e-cigarettes to designated smoking areas — a decision that brought e-cigarettes in the conversation of a campus smoking ban. E-cigarettes are also currently prohibited in restaurants, workplaces and other public spaces.