After being stuck in a classroom with no air conditioners for hours you just can’t wait to get out for a breath of fresh air.
When that time finally arrives you realize that fresh air you inhaled is more like the coughing of an old car engine’s exhaust pipe.
The smoking policy has been a hot topic in recent Academic Senate meetings with regards to revising it.
The current policy for students is that they must be at least 20 feet away from a building, doors and windows when smoking.
The policy needs to change and that change needs to be to create designated smoking areas on campus.
According to the World Health Organization, there are more than 4,000 chemicals found in tobacco smoke, 250 of which are known to be harmful and 50 are known to cause cancer.
Many colleges such as Fullerton and Santa Ana College have already banned smoking on campus.
Just last year Santa Monica College banned smoking completely on campus.
With rising concerns about health, the college needs to take steps to make it healthier and safer for everyone on campus.
Reducing the places students are allowed to smoke would be a great first step to that goal.
While students should still be allowed to smoke, they should not be allowed to smoke wherever they please on campus and stricter restrictions should be applied.
The current smoking policy is not being heavily enforced or respected as you can usually see students smoking near buildings.
Students need to have respect for others and this change needs to happen.
In doing so we can limit the places students are allowed to smoke and should make it a little easier for other students who do not smoke.
If the college continues with the current smoking policy,  it will continue to be a problem for non-smoking students.
So the next time when you want to take that nice clean breath of fresh air you don’t have to worry what you are inhaling.