SRJC smokers pushed off campus
SRJC student Matthew Bandy, 22, smokes at the corner of Albany Drive and Elliott Avenue in Santa Rosa Monday in an area technically off limits to smokers. He thinks the college should create designated smoking areas.
MARK ARONOFF / The Press DemocratPublished: Monday, November 9, 2009 at 7:20 p.m.
Last Modified: Monday, November 9, 2009 at 7:20 p.m.
Tobacco smokers at Santa Rosa Junior College are becoming increasingly marginalized — literally — with a strict new policy that has pushed them past the edges of the campus.
To overcome complaints about droves of smokers puffing away on the border of the smoke-free campus, the school has instituted a policy prohibiting smoking within a minimum of 20 feet from the college property, including sidewalks.
“We used to be able to smoke by the library,” said Aaron Carpenter, 20, as he took a smoking break from his English class Monday afternoon. “They pushed us back. Eventually, they'll kick us down all the way to the freeway.”
“There should be a designated smoking area,” said his classmate Matthew Bandy, 22, echoing the suggestion of other smokers who said they are exiled to an adjacent residential neighborhood if they want to grab a quick smoke.
Not only have the places disappeared where students can smoke, campus police are about to be granted the authority to issue citations for smoking infractions. The tickets are backed by fines that start at $100 for the first offense, increase to $250 for the second, and $500 for a third offense.
Santa Rosa City Council members this afternoon are poised to pass a resolution that allows Junior College police to enforce the city ordinance prohibiting smoking around workplaces and public places, within a 20-foot radius.
Campus police said they began pushing smokers farther back at the start of the fall semester, but now will have the authority, if needed, to issue tickets with fines.
College police said the expanded no-smoking zone has worked fairly well and don't expect they will need to ticket many smokers, because the intent is to educate them about the policy, or issue a warning.
“Out first step is to gain compliance through education,” said Sgt. Don Silverek. “If we get repeat offenders we will start issuing (a citation). We'd rather have that person spend money at the bookstore, not on fines for smoking.”
In the past, a student who violated the smoke-free campus rule would be subject to academic discipline consisting of potential suspension or expulsion.
Last spring, complaints about smoking centered on Elliott Avenue and the crosswalk between the library and quad on the north side of the street.
The sidewalk there was an area some referred to as “smoker's alley” that created a foul-air gauntlet for non-smokers to negotiate.
The situation was muddled by questions over whether campus police could enforce no smoking on the city sidewalk. But tonight's Santa Rosa's City Council resolution makes it clear that campus police can.
In the meantime, an SRJC community service officer has been on duty during the week on Elliot Avenue advising smokers they can only smoke on the north side of the street, to the east of some apartments, or farther down the block near Albany Street.
“We just have had a huge reduction — I mean 98 percent — in people complaining, because we're getting great compliance and they're not smoking on the campus,” said Sgt. Silverek.
But not everyone is happy. Smokers say there are no ash trays or containers for them to discard their cigarette butts.
And some say the strict policy still leads to people sneaking a cigarette on campus or in the parking lot, despite the numerous signs advising of the smoke free campus.
“If they are going to have intense laws, they should have an area where you can smoke,” said Leesa Kampsnider, a sophomore who was on a break between her psychology and philosophy classes.
As she smoked a cigarette at the corner of Elliot Avenue and Albany Street, she noted that she technically was not supposed to be smoking there because of her proximity to several houses on the street owned by the Junior College.
“It's really inconvenient when you only have five minutes,” she said of the difficulty of squeezing in a smoke during a class break.
“I don't think it should be so hard to smoke on the sidewalk,” she said before snuffing out her cigarette butt on the cement. “They're trying to make people not want to smoke.”
“Smoking is definitely on the out,” said Sgt. Silverek, a former smoker who acknowledged the difficulty of quitting.
He said smokers can get advice and suggestions on tobacco cessation from student health services.
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