Smokers at Bucks could be in for
a change regarding where they are
allowed to light up, possibly as
early as December.
The Student Government Association
has teamed up with PAStudents
Working Against Tobacco,
also known as PASWAT, to come
up with proposals for changes in
the smoking policy.
The current policy is that smoking
is not permitted in buildings or
around doorways.
The most common complaints
about smoking on campus involve
smoking around doorways,,
because the smoke drifts inside,
and also smoking on and around
walkways, because students walking
down the paths get blown with
the cigarette smoke.
Secondhand smoke is a major
concern on campus. There has been
at least one reported incident of a
student’s asthma acting up because
of close contact with secondhand
smoke, and the administration
wants to avoid that.
Although many students ignore
the guidelines about where smoking
is permitted, some do their best
to comply with the rules.
Tia Mylinski, 30, an accounting
major from Levittown said, “I’m a
conscientious smoker. I put my cigarettes
in the ashtrays, not on the
ground, and I stay beyond the tape.”
The tape, is the yellow tape
around the doorways that let students
know they are smoking too
close to the entrances.
Matt Cipriano has been director
of student life programs for six
years, and he hears the complaints
about smoking every year.
Although he is responsible for
hanging signs around the doorways
and taping the floor to designate
the no-smoking zone, Cipriano
said the rule is difficult to
enforce. “We need to get safety and
security on board to help us with
that. We can stand out there and tell
one group of people to stand away
from the door, but what happens
when they leave and the next group
comes? ”
Cipriano hopes the new proposals
will be on Dean Karen
Dawkins’desk by December.
He believes one of two things
will happen: either the campus will
become entirely smoke free, or
smoking will only be allowed in
parking lots.
If Bucks becomes smoke-free, it
would not be the first college in the
area to do so.
Montgomery County Community
college is now smoke-free.
A lot of students would not be
happy if the campus went smokefree,
but some welcome the idea.
Danielle Newnan, a 20-year-old
psychology major from Feasterville,
said, “I would be all for the
college going completely smoke
free. I don’t stand outside that
much, but when I walk by people
smoking, sometimes the smoke
blows in my face. Secondhand
smoke is really bad.”
Jill Schieren, 21 from Yardley
said, “I don’t think it’s possible for
that to happen, people would just
break the rules. And what are the
security officers going to do about
it? I think they have better things to
be doing than making sure students
aren’t smoking. I don’t think it
could ever work.”
On Nov. 15, Bucks will work
with the Wellness Connection to
bring the Great American Smoke
Out to campus.
There will be information provided
on quitting smoking and on
the effects of tobacco use.