Recently President Clinton ordered a crackdown on underage smoking, telling tobacco companies they must spend $150 million a year on anti-smoking education.

Although most of Iowa State’s students are of legal smoking age, there are also students who are under 18 years old.

ISU Department of Public Safety Officer Scott Newman said underage smokers are ticketed $25 here in Ames.

“Obviously, a lot of the people we deal with are college-age,” Newman said.

Most of the tickets handed out, he said, are given at the Memorial Union.

Newman said he doesn’t know whether a $25 ticket will deter underage smokers from lighting up again, but as of right now, that’s what the penalty is.

“Most [underage smokers] probably keep doing it, but they’re more careful about it next time,” he said.

He is hopeful, though, that the restrictions help cut down the number of underage smokers.

There are two places in the Memorial Union, where students can smoke – the Maintenance Shop and the Trophy Tavern.

ISU Food Services Director William Young said there are cigarette machines in the cafeteria in the Union, and one in the Maintenance Shop.

“The machines in the cafeteria are within 10 feet of cashiers, and the one in the Maintenance Shop is also under supervision,” he said.

There are not really any complaints of underage smokers, but sometimes younger-looking people are observed smoking in the Trophy Tavern, he said.

Young said there wasn’t a cigarette machine in the Trophy Tavern, which is open 24 hours a day to students. “We receive a few complaints a year about the smoking, but not many compared to the number of students that use the room,” Young said.

Young said that right now, he knows of no plans to prohibit smoking in the Memorial Union smoking areas. He said if that decision is ever made, it will be handed down by the Memorial Union Board of Directors.

Pat Robinson, ISU Coordinator of Residence Life, said there are no public areas for ISU students to smoke in, but students are allowed to smoke in their rooms with their roommate’s permission.

“When students fill out assessments, they can request a smoking roommate, or a roommate that will allow smoking. We are careful about placing smokers together. [We want to] make sure we’re following peoples’ wishes,” Robinson said.

At this time, she said, there are no specific enforcements being made with regard to underage smokers.

Robinson said it isn’t a big concern, because “We get so few students that are under the age of 18.”

Robinson said there are no cigarette vending machines in any of the residence halls. Students used to be able to smoke in the dens on each floor, but when state policy became stricter, the dens, along with most of the campus, were turned into non-smoking areas, she said.

Clinton’s goal is to cut tobacco use by teenagers in half. He gave authority to the Food and Drug Administration to regulate cigarettes because of their nicotine content.

The regulations proposed by Clinton to stop underage smoking include:

* Requiring tobacco companies to pay for a $150 million advertising campaign to stop young people from smoking

* Limiting advertising in publications that reach a significant number of children and teenagers to black-and-white text only, with no pictures

* Banning all cigarette vending machines, so that cigarettes can only be sold by clerks from behind a counter.

* Requiring proof of age to buy tobacco products

* Prohibiting brand-name advertising at sporting events and on products like t-shirts and hats

* Prohibiting outdoor tobacco ads, like billboards, within 1,000 feet of schools and playgrounds.