Moorpark College could be a completely smoke-free campus by early next year if a proposed policy change now in the works at the committee level is approved.

The policy change would ban smoking from the entire campus, including parking lots where smokers now gather, said Moorpark College Health Educator Alison Barton. The proposal is currently being reviewed by the campus Health and Safety Committee, Barton said.

The proposed policy change comes after complaints of smokers filling the college’s entrances with cigarette haze. But Barton said the change has been considered for years.

“Essentially, all along we wanted Moorpark College to become a 100% smoke-free campus,” she said.

Once the committee drafts the policy change, the proposal would then go to the vice president of Business and the college president for approval before going to the Ventura Community College District’s Board of Trustees for the final decision.

“We are not 100 percent sure when it will be approved,” Barton said. “It could go before the end of this year or early next year.”

Barton said she wants the the approval process to move slowly so that everyone understands the policy and has time to plan ahead or consider giving up smoking.

The current policy states that “in the interest of the health and welfare of students, employees, and the public, smoking is not permitted anywhere on the Moorpark College campus other than in the parking lots.” The District Smoking Policy covers all forms of smoking including e-cigarettes.

Associated Students President Farshid Orak suggested a different approach. He said providing designated smoking areas with shade and benches, as well as programs to help students quit smoking, would be more effective.

“A smoking-free campus is a good idea,” said Orak. “But an even better idea is to have a convenient place – not too near but far enough from the entrance of the school to not disturb other students – for the smokers to go to have a smoke.”

Kevin Kossow, a 26-year-old Communications major, agreed that smokers just need an area where they can smoke.

“We would put the cigarette butts out and we compiled to the rules when there was a designated area,” said Kossow. “No one wants to be hassled for doing anything legal; we’re not rebels. There wouldn’t be complaints if we had a designated area.”

Ryan Relles, a 21-year-old student majoring in Biology who takes one class at Moorpark College and a few other classes at CSUN, says he has not been affected by the smoking on campus.

“They’re (CSUN) not a smoke-free campus,
students smoke wherever they want over there,” Relles said. “So when I come here
to Moorpark it’s totally different; I can actually breathe fresh air.”