The Collegian

Issue date: 3/4/05 Section: Opinion

Media Credit: Jesse Aranda and Michael Gillaspy Editorial Cartoon [Click to enlarge]

Okay here's what you're thinking, "another opinion on people smoking on campus." Yes, I'm upset that people still don't respect others' wishes about the policy that was past in 2001.

You have read many articles about how others don't like smokers, or how it should be all right to smoke on campus, but when the smoking students start to light up while walking out of the quad between Danner and Shima, or on the deck outside of Shima, it's getting ridiculous.

This is supposed to be a smoke-free environment and has been since 2001, when the Delta College Board of Trustees recorded a unanimous vote Tuesday, May 15, that reads, "smoking and the use of tobacco products are prohibited on all college property expect the parking lots."

Now, unlike others, I'm not going to complain about you for smoking in the area right before you hit the buildings, like outside of Shima, next to the sign that reads,

"Delta College is a smoke-free campus, thanks for your corporation," or by Budd, Holt, and everywhere else.

I have said many times to my friends that I dislike that fact that students and faculty smoke out there, because when I walk past the smoke-filled air and feel like I can't breath, but like some students in the past have said, they don't have enough time between classes to walk out to the parking lots, although it's more like a hangout spot then a quick fix before or in between classes nowadays.

That, I guess is always going to be a smoking area, no matter what advisors or even major Delta staff do.

Really, when teachers want to cram in a cigarette between classes, they can hardly jam downstairs and jog all the way to the parking lot where the policy clearly states above suggested for the smoking area - they would be late to class, therefore showing a fine example of what they don't want their students doing.

I have a big problem with the students who think it's all right to smoke inside the campus. On many occasions I have come across students smoking on the second floor of Shima, and in the bathrooms, as they're walking in between buildings and now on the deck by Danner. Can't they be respectful and walk the short distance before polluting the air?

Continued...

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