Eliminating smoking from the entire campus seems unfair and extreme, and while we understand that smoke bothers some people, smoking doesn’t bother us. Students should not be penalized just because some people are bothered by it.

If the smoking areas were fewer and more distinct, then we wouldn’t smoke across the entire campus. The ashtrays around campus give us permission to smoke wherever we please, so of course we will smoke anywhere.

If they took away the ashtrays then there would be more specific areas for us to smoke in and we would respect that. We aren’t delinquents trying to make our campus an uncomfortable and hazardous place, we just smoke.

As we explored AACC’s Non-Smoking Policy draft, we found ourselves asking more questions than we were able to get answered.

Why doesn’t AACC simply remove all of the ashtrays? Why don’t they get rid of the gazebo?

We understand AACC’s reasoning behind the proposed Non-Smoking policy. Smoking is a horrible habit and secondhand smoking does affect a non-smoker’s health. But is it something that needs to be restrained?

The proposed non-smoking policy makes us wonder how these rules would be enforced once it goes into effect. All that we were able to gather from the Non-Smoking Policy subcommittees so far was that AACC faculty and staff would not be made responsible for enforcing the policy. The officers in the Public Safety Department would be doing so.

However, what we really want to know is how it will be implemented.

Will students who refuse to stop smoking be put into time out in the corner for five minutes or will they be fined?

Although the non-smoking policy draft comes from nothing but AACC being concerned for the well being of their students, we think that the non-smoking policy is a bit drastic.
It seems unfair to play with people’s livelihood and personal decisions.