“If one is going to be included, everyone should be included,” she says.

Crimson Tide

On campus, the director of University Health Services (UHS) applauds the regulation, while some smokers in Quincy House courtyard are less than thrilled at the news.

Tatyana Bezuglova ’05, who just transferred to Harvard from Belarus, says she is surprised at the level of regulation smokers face in the United States.

“I’m very irritated,” Bezuglova says. “[In Europe] we had heard rumors that in New York you can’t smoke in bars. We were amazed by this.”

But Dr. David Rosenthal ’57, the director of UHS, sees the regulation as a necessary move to protect public health.

“No matter where you go, in restaurants or bars or wherever, there should be clean air,” he says. “Family, children, adults should not be exposed to environmental smoke.”

Rosenthal, a long-time supporter of the ban who also works with Tobacco-Free Mass., an anti-smoking coalition, testified before the Cambridge City Council several times during the course of deliberations over the ban.

Rosenthal also says that there is “early evidence” showing that restaurants and bars in communities with similar smoking bans have not lost business.

Like many supporters of the ban, Rosenthal believes that a statewide law is the best solution.

“It would be better if there were a statewide one, rather than each community having to fight its own battle,” he says.