Reporter Volume 25, No.13 December 2, 1993

By MARK WALLACE
Reporter Staff

The Professional Staff Senate passed a resolution at their Nov. 17
meeting urging the UB administration to "work with all deliberate
haste" to ban smoking in university-owned and operated buildings, and
to provide enforcement of the ban.
	The resolution also calls for consultation with students and
with collective bargaining units to assure the consideration of
smokers' concerns, including proper notice of any change in the
smoking policy and an ongoing maintenance on campus of smoking
cessation programs and clinics.
	According to Rosalyn Wilkinson, chair of the Professional
Staff Senate, the resolution differs from the resolution on smoking
policy passed by the Faculty Senate because it calls for enforcement
of the smoking policy and for maintenance of smoking cessation
programs and clinics.
	The Professional Staff Senate concluded that UB's previous
smoking policy had only "moderate success," Wilkinson said, and that
these two major additions could make a significant improvement.
	"We felt that the smoking policy was something we had to take
a stand on," Wilkinson said. "No decision was a decision. By agreeing
to this resolution, we show the administration that we are interested
in making changes in UB's smoking policy.
	"The 1200 members of our professional staff are cognizant of
what's going on in terms of smoking policy at UB, and are sensitive to
the personal issues involved," Wilkinson said. "They are the people
who do the day-to-day managing of the UB workplace, and they know that
they will be the ones who will have to enforce the smoking policy."
	Wilkinson said that the Professional Staff Senate conducted
extensive interviews with their constituents about the smoking policy,
asking members how changes in that policy would affect them, and how
they believed those changes would affect students as well.
	Regarding the new PSS policy, Peter Nickerson, chair of the
Faculty Senate, commented: "I personally favor the new policy. I would
urge the administration to promulgate a new policy with all deliberate
speed." 
	The Buffalo Center Chapter of the United University
Professions also passed a resolution this past summer "to recommend
banning smoking in campus buildings," according to James Lawler,
Buffalo Chapter Secretary for the UUP. Paul Zarembka, president of the
Buffalo Chapter, said that the UUP's resolution was an attempt "to
support the resolution of the Faculty Senate" on banning smoking at
UB.