The Memorial Union Board of Directors voted down a motion Thursday to allow additional smoking areas in the Union.

The motion failed, 10-9.

The board voted earlier in the year to ban smoking in the Trophy Tavern, the only smoking area on campus that is open 24 hours.

MaryJo Mertens, managing director of the Union, said other rooms in the building were examined as possible smoking areas. Some of these rooms included the Pine Room and one of the study lounges.

However, Mertens said, the cost of filtering the air by mechanical exhaust in these rooms would be $30,000, even in areas already designated as smoking.

Mertens also said that Trophy Tavern has received numerous complaints because of the spread of its smoke smell.

“A large number of people won’t come into the Union because of it,” she said.

But Patrick Murray-John, president of the Student Union Board, said these complaints are exaggerated.

According to a crude telephone survey conducted by SUB, about half of the Iowa State students say the smoke in the Trophy Tavern does bother them, while half said it does not.

Fifteen percent of those surveyed said they were smokers.

Matthew Goodman, an SUB representative, voiced his support for the ISU smoking population, saying they should have their space in the Union.

“We have bowling; we have beer; we have video games and we have pool in this building,” he said. “There’s a certain segment of this ISU community that would like a place on campus where they can smoke and study. I think we should not judge them by the fact that they might live in a hedonistic manner. I think we should judge them by the fact whether or not they have the need.”

The only smoking areas in the Union now are the Maintenance Shop, five of the guest rooms in the hotel and the Green Room.