By: Christopher Pope, Staff Reporter
Continued Complaints May Cause Campus to Pursue Non-Smoking Policy
Complaints of smokers not adhering to campus policies are on the rise and security will consider a non-smoking policy if this does not change, said campus security Lieutenant Bernard Rogers.
Smokers are not adhering to the policy that smoking is prohibited within 25 feet of an entryway or thoroughfare, said Rogers. This policy comes from the Dee Johnson Clean Indoor Air Act, said Rogers.
“I’m constantly on campus ushering people to the proper place to smoke,” said Rogers.
Culinary Arts major Martha Baldisan said that the problem is that campus smokers are left without protection from the sun.
“We have to stand in the sun because we’re smokers. There should at least be designated areas with shade for us,” she said.
Rogers said that as far as he knows, CNM has no plans to become a smoke-free campus, but that that would be the next step if the complaints continued.
“You wouldn’t want this to be a smoke-free campus. UNM has a smoke-free campus with only one spot on the far end of campus designated as a smoking area,” said Rogers.
Culinary Arts Major Leonardo Delarosa, a non-smoker, said that he feels security picks on smokers.
“I’m not bugged by other people’s smoke around me, but I feel that security gets bored so they harass smokers,” he said.
Psychology major and smoker Brent Reed said he does not think there is anything wrong with the policy at CNM.
“I’m from a different generation, when we use to smoke anywhere,” said Reed, “It’s not an inconvenience to sit outside and smoke, it’s just the way it is now.”
Rogers said that he asks smokers to imagine how they might feel as a non-smoker if they had to walk through the smoke.
“My thing is: A little cooperation goes a long way,” said Rogers.
