SAN MARCOS
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Walking across the Palomar College main campus can seem like a stroll backward in time, to an era of prevalent and loosely restricted smoking.
But students who have pushed for two years to keep the clouds of secondhand smoke limited to a few outdoor areas have cleared a major hurdle, despite objections from faculty and staff labor groups.
If approved by the community college district board of trustees, the proposal would make five designated smoking areas the only places on campus where it is permissible to light up.
The proposed policy was approved on a 13-5 vote of the college's Strategic Planning Council this week.
“I know it has been a long and arduous process, but it worked,” Palomar College President Bob Deegan said to two student-government representatives who had argued for the policy. Deegan chaired the committee meeting but did not vote.
Palomar would join cities and colleges around the county that have approved regulations limiting smoking in recent months.
The campus already is subject to state law that prohibits smoking within 20 feet of building entrances. There are a few other nonsmoking zones and five designated smoking areas, but no policy that explicitly limits smoking to the designated areas.
Indeed, moments before the committee meeting, students were puffing away here and there on campus – in front of the Natural Sciences building, outside the cafeteria.
“It really comes down to a health issue,” said student government President Jesse Lyn.
Representatives of bargaining groups for the faculty and nonteaching staff said the policy constitutes a change in working conditions that should have been negotiated with the labor groups. Shannon Lienhart of the Palomar Faculty Federation said no faculty member should face discipline for violating a tougher smoking policy.
But student Vice President Paul Barboa said that issue was a red herring because the proposal seeks only to direct smoking into the designated areas, not punish violators.
The issue now goes to a campus committee on policies and procedures, but Barboa said he expects no major obstacles to approval by the district's board of trustees. The matter is not yet scheduled for board consideration.
Jeff Ristine: (760) 737-7578; jeff.ristine@uniontrib.com
