Staff Writer

Smokers are going to find a way to smoke, and non smokers will find a way to inhibit them. The occasional whiff of secondhand smoke and the more frequent sightings of littered cigarette butts only remind non smokers of the nuisance of smoking. While the smoking populace may be a nuisance to some out on the street, the problem of smoking on campus doesn’t seem as apparent to most students. However, that isn’t to say it smoking is an issue that the Campus Beautification Committee and Associated Students Inc. intend to ignore.

As stated in a May 2011 memo to the campus community from Juli Smith, Director of the Office of Safety and Risk Management, the current smoking policy states, “Smoking is permissible only where designated as a smoking area through signage.” Currently, the designated smoking areas gives plenty of space for smokers to go about their business freely, with ample room for non-smokers to pass. As of now, the smoking policy on campus prohibits smoking within 20 feet of any building entrance, including the Student Recreation Center, the Children’s Center, and the Health Center.

When I heard about the possibility of a smoking ban on campus I was not surprised but taken aback. Considering college campuses across the state have already implemented smoking bans, as well as Bakersfield College’s vote by students and staff to pass the ban of tobacco products, it made sense that CSUB would want to mirror what other campuses are doing. But even then the idea that ASI and the CBC want to implement a smoking ban confused me since the amount of smokers I’ve seen on campus has been minimal. Furthermore, aside from the agenda of the CBC, there’s hardly a perceptible desire from the student body to push for a tobacco-free campus.

Hernan Hernandez, president of ASI said, “There’s still no concrete detail that the campus wants to move to a smoking ban.” Collaborating with the CBC, ASI administered “a survey asking students, staff, faculty and administrators to get their perception of what they think the campus should do,” said Hernandez.

Erika Delamar, Health Promotion Coordinator at the Student Health Center as well as a member of the CBC, noted that during the last campus cleanup they “were picking up a lot of cigarette butts,” which resulted in the suggestion of the survey. Delamar also mentioned that five years prior she, in conjunction with the Kern County Department of Health, conducted a survey in which “We asked [the campus] if they would support going for a smoke-free campus, but we have not moved forward since then.”

According to Hernandez, the survey found the general perception is that the campus has “a very small demographic of smokers,” Through another survey via Facebook, he learned most students would rather keep the designated smoking areas than implement a smoking ban. Hernandez points out that ASI advocates for students:  “If the sentiment is that the students want designated smoking areas then we’re gonna take that route,” he said.

Garret Geissel, a 21-year-old English major and non-smoker has nothing to complain about regarding the current state of smoking on campus. He agrees with the areas. “You shouldn’t be able to smoke everywhere, like in front of buildings or stuff like that,” said Geissel. He also mentioned that smokers don’t “bother me as long as they’re respectful of non-smokers.”

Finding smokers on campus was considerably more difficult than finding a non smoker. As a smoker, liberal studies major Laura Doolittle doesn’t think the ban “is the worst thing that could happen,” citing freedom of choice. She agrees with Geissel in terms of keeping the designated areas for smoking. “I think it’d be the best route to go, rather than getting rid of smoking altogether,” said Doolittle.

Since the demographic of smokers isn’t as prominent as non smokers, there is nothing preventing ASI or the CBC from banning smoking on campus. Considering Bakersfield College’s recent vote to ban tobacco products on its campus and the recent survey the CBC and ASI have conducted, this is a serious push to rid the campus of its designated smoking areas and ban tobacco products. It’s not that I condone smoking or the use of tobacco products; I just prefer to be able to smoke in between a class without having to leave campus.