Dare to smoke on campus? No student is subject to fines or court citations for smoking on the De Anza College campus, and so far, no student been placed under probation for violating the campus’s non-smoking policy.
According to the Student Codes of Conduct, students are subject to disciplinary probation by Dean of Student Development Michele LeBleu-Burns if they are engaged in “willful or persistent smoking in any area where smoking has been prohibited by law or by regulation of the college or district.”
Yet an administrator or faculty member who catches a student smoking on campus cannot legally coerce a student into giving up his name or photo identification, making it nearly impossible for an administrator to punish a student without his consent.
A student cannot be cited or fined by police because there is no state law in California that forbids smoking outdoors on college campuses. “What we’re trying to do is to be more educational rather than adversarial,” said LeBleu-Burns.
Mary-Jo Lomax, the health educator in charge of a smoking cessation program offered by Health Services, said there is no definite risk in students’ health from passing student smokers on the fringes of campus while walking onto campus grounds. Yet she is proud of the reduction of the second-hand smoke haze on campus since the no-smoking policy came into effect Sept. 1, 2005, she said.
The district no-smoking policy in effect is Board Policy 3217 and states that the non-smoking regulation relies on “the consideration and cooperation” of both smokers and non-smokers on campus.
LeBleu-Burns said the programs and policies are there to help students feel comfortable with the campus environment, smokers and non-smokers alike.
Under disciplinary probation, students are excluded from participating in clubs and activities for specified periods of time but may still go to class, graduate and even transfer to a university.
In November 2004, Foothill and De Anza faculty, staff and students participated in an online survey developed to assess opinions about smoking.
Based on the results of the survey, the committee felt that the time was right to join nearby community colleges including Ohlone, Cabrillo and Mission colleges and move toward a smoke-free campus.
Administrators presented their proposal to the Board of Trustees on June 6, 2005 and the Board approved the policy June 20. The policy went into effect Sept. 1, 2005.
De Anza student trustee Jordan Eldridge said the drafting of the code was not a ploy to get students to quit smoking, but an act to make the campus more comfortable for non-smokers who are usually upset by inhaling smoke.
“It makes a difference, you know, between students having to eat their lunch amidst the smoke, which was how the situation had been, versus having to walk through the puffs in the parking lot,” said Lomax.
Jason Leonard Bautista, a student participant of the cessation program said, “As a quitter, [seeing smokers on campus] is going to be one of your obstacles to hurdle over.”
Yet the littering of cigarette butts on campus streets proves to be a problem for College Services, which is in charge of cleaning.
As a countermeasure to future littering problems, there will be renovation, landscaping, new ashtrays, receptacles and trash cans this summer that look better than the ones now, said grounds supervisor Joseph Cooke.
The smoking area face lift should be completed by this fall, he said. “If [the area] looks good, then it is less likely for the people to litter in it.”
Disciplinary probation history is not recorded on a student’s official college transcript, but appears on disciplinary records. The common college application asks prospective students to sign an information release form that allows LeBleu-Burns to send colleges a student’s disciplinary record upon demand.
Paul Edison is a staff reporter for La Voz. Contact him at [email protected].
