Letter to the Editor

I want to congratulate ASU for taking a stand on a smoking ban. It appears that it has been a lot harder for faculty and staff at Valley College to come up with a policy to make LAVC a Smoke-Free Campus.

I find it amazing that students who come from smoke-free high schools feel that it is okay to come to Valley College and walk around smoking. Some of our own college faculty and staff smoke where they are not supposed to. Some smoke while driving around in their carts, leaving their second-hand smoke along their paths. If they worked at a high school, they would not be able to smoke in prohibited areas. So, why is it okay here?

We don’t smoke in restaurants, hospitals, many colleges and universities, malls, some beaes, churches, temples, grocery stores, office buildings, outdoor stadiums, and the list goes on and on. Why do we feel we can here?

I urge ASU to continue advocating for this smoking ban. We will be a much healthier campus for it. And as for enforcement, it may be burdensome for a while, but in the end, once the message is out that our campus is smoke-free, students and staff will just have to make the same adjustments that they make at other smoke-free places. Smokers can smoke as long as the air I breathe is not contaminated with their second-hand smoke (which is just as dangerous or more than the smoke they fill their lungs with).

Sylvia Rodriguez
LAVC Counselor