De Anza College has found another way to spend more time and money for a useless gimmick: new smoking areas.

Creating new smoking areas and posting advertisements educating people about them is a good idea. A better idea would be to improve upon the non existent (or few and far between) signs already placed to publicize the present smoking areas, and to upgrade the current designated smoking areas to have more receptacles.

Let me be clear: I am not saying smoking is healthy, or that smokers should be allowed to smoke freely around any place on campus, especially by the Child Development Center. I am, however, saying that although De Anza boasts itself as being an eco-friendly, smoke-free haven, it really isn’t.

The reality is that a great deal of De Anza students are smokers and should thus be included on campus. They should not be excluded and pushed farther away. De Anza is supposed to be about welcoming everyone and finding a lasting compromise that will work and not waste.

A change made by the Foothill-De Anza Board of Trustees is now that smoking is allowed in “designated areas” instead of “designated parking lots.” It’s similar to the way restaurants put the word “premium” in front of a food dish or a company puts “cage-free” on an egg carton. In the end, words aren’t going to drastically change someone’s habits. 

A major problems with the creation of these smoking areas is a lack of enforcement to keep smokers out of prohibited areas. I’ve been at De Anza for three years and I have never seen a member of the faculty or staff patrolling the current areas to make sure smokers don’t wander.

“Most of the signs that were posted were taken down around the G building.  There is no enforcement, therefore students continue to smoke in no smoking areas,” Dr. Juanita Cordero, child development instructor, said. “I don’t think it’s going to work until our campus police get involved, and so far they refuse. Unless someone enforces the issue, nothing is going to stop smokers.”

The new smoking areas don’t stand a chance of being effective if the policy isn’t being upheld. I am sure there is a way to organize something with the De Anza police to take five minutes out of their day. Alternatively, faculty members could spend a few minutes before they go to their offices to monitor the areas. Teamwork is essential to make the campus healthier and more inviting for everyone.

“Come and see all the cigarette butts in and around our center. The entire E parking lot is off limits, but the smoking continues,” says Cordero. “I have tried for years to get enforcement to protect our children, the pregnant mothers and our pregnant students — no results. No one seems to care.”

Lastly, and more crucially, where are all the cigarette receptacles? There are many complaints about the littering of  cigarette butts or the cloud of smoke in the drop-off area as non-smokers enter the campus. 

There are six receptacles near the G Building, one near the Flint Center turnaround and several around the new Stelling smoking area, but near to none at popular smoking areas. Smokers are between a rock and a hard place, with few places to discard cigarette butts. 

De Anza offers a program to help students quit smoking. It offers counseling and tools including free nicotine replacement gum to help curb the craving. But is having a limited amount of ashtrays a technique to try to force students to quit because then they feel like they can’t smoke anywhere? 

Recently, De Anza received a $4,000 grant from Breathe California to help students stop smoking. Perhaps some of those funds could be used to place a few more receptacles around campus, and could be accompanied by a pamphlet with a slogan like “Put it out for good. To stop smoking, go to the campus Health Services.” 

Perhaps there could be a panel of smokers and non-smokers who come together to discuss what would be the best solution to this smoking issue, rather than a bunch of non-smokers and faculty who don’t deal with the daily problem of deciding the fate of smokers. 

Ultimately, the school can’t force people to quit smoking. It is going to be a challenge to get the students to know, accept and adhere to the new policy.

BUTTS ON THE GROUND – A cigarette receptacle with fewer cigarette butts in it than are on the ground. (Brittany Sims/La Voz Weekly)

SPITTOON FOR SMOKES – A mysterious cigarette butt receptacle is discovered near Parking Lot B for students. (Brittany Sims/La Voz Weekly)