A recent student survey shows that almost 94 percent of NIU students agree the NIU smoking policy implemented Sept. 1 should be continued.

Of the 842 students asked, 51.4 percent were very satisfied with the policy, 93.4 percent said they wanted the policy to continue and 5.2 percent wanted the policy discontinued.

NIU sophomore Pat Cranley, a non-smoker, said he favors the non-smoking policy because “it bothers me when people smoke around me.”

NIU senior Rhonda Gorney, a non-smoker, said she is definitely in favor of the policy because the smell of smoke bothers her and she loses her appetite if people smoke around her when she is eating.

NIU graduate student Ray Kim, a smoker, said the policy was “necessary for non-smokers.” He said controversy exists because some favor the policy while others do not, but it is the right of non-smokers to breath smoke-free air.

The idea of a smoking policy came about after NIU employees expressed concerns about smoking restrictions at an open forum originally meant for the discussion of asbestos.

Jean Callary, campus recruiting coordinator for the Career Planning and Placement Center, said the policy also was started because of the nationwide awareness of the hazards of inhaling smoke from others’ cigarettes.

“There is an attitude that non-smokers do have a right to non-polluted air,” she said.

Bob Woggon, director of the Office of Public Information, said Patricia Hewitt, associate vice president of business and operations, was in charge of the committee responsible for the smoking policy.

The policy sets aside specially designated smoking policy areas in six university buildings.

Callary said the policy originally was scheduled to begin June 1, 1988, but some buildings needed a three-month extension due to the cost of ventilation, furnishing and setting aside smoking areas.

NIU is not the first university to implement a policy of this kind because many schools list non-smoking environments in various school periodicals, she said.

“The university would really like to do what (many major) companies have done,” which is to forbid smoking entirely. “But that is not realistic,” she said.

She said when the policy was first started, many complaints were expressed to her, adding that the number of complaints to her office have decreased in recent months.