Smoking Lights Up Debate On Campus

New signs announcing Valley College's smoking policy have sparked a debate about the issue and questions about the consequences of smoking outside the designated areas on campus.

The policy, as stated in the college catalog says, "smoking is prohibited on all property and all indoor and outdoor spaces owned, controlled or administered by Los Angeles Valley College except in designated areas."

Despite the policy's clear language, some people still smoke outside of designated areas, a practice that has led to student complaints and confusion about whether the college enforces it and what to do when they see someone smoking.

"[We need to] remind people who are smoking that this is a smoking restrictive campus," said Tom Jacobsmeyer, vice president of administration. "Enforcing is the sheriff's job, [but] information is everybody's job."

According to Valley Sheriff's Deputy Rick Baker, foot patrols are increased when problems are encountered in a particular area, and this tactic usually resolves the issue. If this is unsuccessful, Student Services is contacted and an incident report is completed. Students who present a continual problem can be issued a citation, and as a last resort can be jailed.

The smoking policy recently became a hot topic after the new signs reminded students of the guidelines and also warned of facing discipline for smoking outside those areas.

According to Jacobsmeyer, most of the problems involving smoking are encountered during the first few weeks of the semester, when he says most students are new to the campus and its policies.

The Math Science and Business Journalism buildings are the main problem areas students bring up, with many complaining about the lack of respect smokers have for non-smokers. Some say it's becoming a problem to walk around campus with the smell of smoke in the air.

"They need to reinforce the policy and make sure the rules are followed," said Jesus Sedano, a non-smoking theater major. "I think it's disrespectful when smokers don't care that there are some of us who wouldn't like to die of second-hand smoke."

The issue isn't lost on Jacobsmeyer, who said attempts to prohibit smoking completely from campus have been made in the past, but were unsuccessful.

"It would be virtually impractical for our campus to ban smoking entirely considering the lack of sheriffs that would be needed to control that [ban]," he said.

The recent attention has also raised concerns from smokers, who feel the areas assigned aren't well planned out.

"If they're planning on actually enforcing the policy, they need to start creating more open spaces as designated smoking areas," said Chris Mower, a computer science major who smokes around the horse shoe area in Monarch Square.

Mower said he is one of approximately 20 students who gather in the horse shoe area to release stress by smoking. Last Wednesday, this group of students began circulating a petition to make it a designated smoking area.

Jacobsmeyer said the same request was made before and was denied because the smoke would penetrate the Campus Center and Humanities building. The campus smoking policy requires that designated smoking areas to be at least 20 feet away from buildings.