By wpengine
As part of Cornell’s policy changes made to conform to the New York State Anti-Smoking Law that went into effect last summer, smokers must stand at least 25 feet away from all building entrances on campus to provide “smoke-free access.” But as the Ithaca winter starts to engulf Cornell, smokers are beginning to feel the effect of the rule. The law prohibits the smoking of any substance containing tobacco in the workplace and virtually all indoor environments such as bars, restaurants and public spaces throughout the state. Only a few minor changes in Cornell’s policy had to be made since the University’s previous regulations already restricted smoking in almost all indoor areas on campus. Now, smoking is also prohibited in the bar located within the Helen Newman bowling alley, all University-owned or -controlled vehicles and all indoor campus locations that previously satisfied “appropriate ventilation” requirements. But the 25-foot rule is affecting students the most of all the changes. “The 25-foot distance will be enforced as necessary to ensure that our buildings are accessible to our faculty, staff, students and visitors, without them having to walk through smoke at the entrance to the building,” said Andy Garcia-Rivera, director of Environmental Health and Safety. People’s reactions to the new policy changes vary. According to Cornell Law School facilities manager Michael Pado, only two staff members have complained to him about the inconvenience of the new rules. Pado even received positive feedback from two different students who were appreciative of the smoke-free environment. “It’s pretty odd that there was so little commotion after [the smoking laws] became stricter,” Pado said. “It has been a smooth changeover.” Cold Complaints As the weather worsens, however, smoking 25 feet away from entrances is going to become increasingly burdensome to smokers. Facilities managers such as Pado are expecting to receive more complaints as the winter progresses. “Staff members have warned me about the rule before, but most of the time I can smoke near an entrance without a problem,” said Sean Lyons ’07. Lyons agreed that it will be much harder to abide by the rule when it starts to snow. “When the weather gets bad, it’s going to be a pain to stand 25 feet away from a building,” he said. Some students smoking much less than 25 feet from the Statler Hotel entrance were not even aware that there was a policy change. They haven’t had a problem smoking by entrances all semester, one student said. There was more commotion at the Helen Newman bowling alley, however, where both positive and negative reactions were much more apparent. Bowling instructor Richard Wallding said that an adult bowling league, which meets weekly at Helen Newman Hall, has experienced significant decline in participants since the new smoking law went into effect. “We lost about six to eight bowlers,” he said. On the other hand, parents of young children are thrilled about the new restrictions. “With the old laws, parents who planned parties here for their children were very dissatisfied,” Wallding said. Now the staff at Helen Newman is consistently getting positive feedback from parents. Enforcement of these changes has been relatively firm. The facilities manager for each department on campus is responsible for getting the word out about the new restrictions, either by hanging signs on doors or having other faculty members enforce the policy directly. Resident advisors have been assigned to enforce the policy in and around their residence halls. According to Cynthia Gruman, public health sanitarian at the Tompkins County Health Department, the law is enforced through complaints. Gruman said that the department has received 10 complaints against seven facilities in the county since July. “The health department does not actively patrol facilities for compliance, but they will visit facilities when a second or subsequent complaint is received,” she said. Enforcement, Garcia-Rivera said, is on a case-by-case basis and in response to complaints. “We are not actively looking for violations to the policy,” he said. “The expectation is that members of our University community will do the right thing and abide by the policy.” Although some people fail to comply with the smoke-free access rule, the new policy gives nonsmokers a legal basis for complaints. If nonsmokers feel strongly about avoiding secondhand smoke, they now have both campus policy and New York State law to back up their position. “I’m happy I can walk into the dorms without having to smell smoke anymore,” said Isadora Rothstein ’07. “If people want to smoke, that’s fine, but it’s better now that we don’t have to breathe it in.”Archived article by Missy Kurzweil
By wpengine
A husband-and-wife journalistic team gave a presentation last night describing Iraq in the days after the recent conflict there. Writer and editor Maura Stephens and her husband, photographer George Sapio, visited Iraq twice this year, once before the war and once after. They showed photographs that Sapio took in the country and explained what they found while they were there. The talk, titled “Obscured by Spin: The People of Iraq,” was hosted by Lambda Pi Eta (LPH), the official communication studies honor society of the National Communication Association. Janeen Matacchiera ’04, president of LPH’s Cornell chapter, said that the talk promotes the organization’s goal to provide “an opportunity to discuss and exchange ideas about the field.” Chris Westgate ’04, vice president of LPH, introduced Stephens and Sapio. He explained that they met at Newsweek, where they started to question the mainstream media’s reliability. Stephens said that before the war, a friend of hers told her about a mission to Iraq sponsored by the organization Global Exchange, and she and her husband decided to go so that they could see the country first-hand. She said that they were both scared for their lives when they first went, but that they found that their fears were unfounded. “Everywhere we went, we got peace signs from people,” she said. Ubiquitous Saddam The first time they visited the country, Stephens and Sapio found that Saddam Hussein’s images were ubiquitous. Sapio said that the first thing they saw when they entered the country was a statue about two stories tall of a horse reared on its hind legs with Hussein, sword in hand, riding it. Stephens said that they had to be cautious during this first trip. “We couldn’t be heard saying ‘Saddam’ all the time, so we just called him Harry,” she said. She explained that the group they were part of was escorted by government officials. When they visited the country the second time, however, they were struck by how absent Hussein’s likeness had become. They instead had to worry about U.S. soldiers. Sapio said that one time, two soldiers approached him after he had taken photographs. They asked him who he was and what he was doing and almost took his film. The couple said that the U.S. soldiers stationed in Iraq are suffering from low morale. Stephens explained that the soldiers have to endure the extremely hot weather in full military gear and that the language and culture barriers, as well as the attacks against the soldiers, are making them tense and frightened. The couple showed many photographs they had taken in Iraq. One depicted a young boy crouching over a dirty puddle and scooping up water to drink. Stephens said that many Iraqis drink contaminated water because the sewage system does not work. Another set of photographs showed the Amariyah bomb shelter, where more than 400 Iraqis were killed in 1991 when the United States bombed the shelter twice. “I guess they thought Saddam Hussein was there,” Stephens said. The heat was so intense that it burned images of the people into the walls and ground. Stephens said that there were images of babies curled up asleep. The couple showed one image of a woman breast-feeding her baby. The couple said that due to Hussein’s regime as well as the sanctions against Iraq that the United Nations had put in place, the country’s economy was in shambles. Sapio said that 250 dinari were worth about $750 in 1989. When they visited Iraq, that same amount was worth about 10 cents. The couple said almost all of the country’s infrastructure was destroyed when Hussein was ousted. They showed pictures of traffic and explained that since street lights do not work and there are no police to conduct traffic, drivers have to manage by themselves. Another picture showed a city with a smoke-filled sky. “This is what the air looks like every day,” Sapio said, adding that there are no firefighters to put out the flames. After their presentation, the couple opened the discussion to general questions and comments. Among the topics discussed were the role of the media in Iraq. Stephens and Sapio expressed extreme disappointment in the coverage of the war in Iraq. They said that embedded journalists, who are told by the government where to go and what they can report, are not upholding their responsibilities. “This is not journalism,” Stephens said. The couple said that most of the major news agencies pool their stories from the same sources. They also said that these agencies do not report much of the bad news. “This is the stuff nobody wants you to see,” Sapio said. “But it’s the stuff that happens.” Several audience members proposed that censorship could be appropriate at times. Sapio agreed that such instances include matters of security but said that “censorship of the media is the first step toward a dictatorial totalitarianism.” Danielle Greenman ’07 said that although she disagreed with their stance on the censorship of media, she agreed with much of the rest of the talk. “It was an eye-opener,” she said. “I enjoyed it a lot.” “I thought it was interesting to see the war in Iraq from a different perspective, from within the country and not from the mainstream media,” said Danfung Dennis ’05. Westgate was pleased with the talk. “I thought it was very representative of humanitarian efforts at Iraq,” he said. Archived article by Yuval Shavit