Bakersfield College may adopt a new smoking policy in the following semester.
The proposed policy would require smokers to use designated areas. This would coincide with a possible new littering policy that would include a fine for dropping cigarette butts and other trash on campus.
The first step in a policy shift is a Student Government Association student senate vote on a proposal. If the proposal passes, it will then be given to college president William Andrews and the College Counsel, then the Board of Trustees. If the resolution is approved by all, the changes will be enacted.
Students’ reaction to the possible change has been mixed.
“I don’t think it would be a big deal. People might appreciate it,” said Channon Garcia, psychology major. But Channon is used to respecting the wishes of those around her who do not smoke. “My family doesn’t really like smoking. If someone asks me not to smoke around them, I put (the cigarette) out.”
Nursing major Leslie Reynoso simply doesn’t think the policy will work.
“Students just aren’t used to (smoking areas) and there isn’t the security to enforce it,” she said.
Students will have the opportunity to show how they feel about designated smoking areas in the coming semester. Doser plans to hold a forum to let students voice any concerns they may have over the policy changes.
“Next year sometime we’ll hold a forum and see what students, staff and the faculty think,” Doser said.
Tobacco Free Coalition of Kern County, a non-profit organization that operates under the Kern County Health Department, has been working with SGA Activities Liaison Anthony Doser on formulating a proposal regarding a new smoking policy.
Nsele Nsuangiani, the project director of the Tobacco Education Program for the Kern County Department of Public Health, recently headed a survey of Bakersfield College students, asking questions on how they felt about a possible policy change. Of the 223 people given the questionnaire, 136 of those surveyed had never smoked, while 44 had quit smoking. Twenty-six people were current smokers and 17 students declined to answer.
The survey was funded by Proposition 99, which adds a 25-cent charge to each pack of cigarettes.
Nsuangiani sees BC adopting a new smoking policy as the first step to affecting other campus’ stances like Cal State Bakersfield.
“This is the largest community college in Kern County,” he said. “BC has been at the top of our agenda from the beginning. Once BC adopts this policy, it will be like a chain (effect).”
BC currently follows state law, which requires people who smoke to stand a certain number of feet from building entrances. The restructuring of the campus’ smoking policy has been in the works for the past two semesters, but due to changes in who was in charge of the project, the plans were stalled, Doser said.