CREDIT: LAM LEE
Fanshawe implemented a smoke-free campus on Nov. 1, but the College was not prepared for all of the entrances to the campus to be filled with smokers.

Nov. 1 marked the day that Fanshawe became completely smokefree.

With a short time frame and a lack of forewarning, the smoking sections at the College were all removed and smokers were told to go off property to smoke.

However, since there was a limited amount of planning involved in this decision, smoke-free Fanshawe does not really seem to be smoke-free.

What has ended up happening is that all of the smokers are now smoking at the main entrances to the College.

The first thing you see when you drive by Fanshawe are the 20 to 30 students and staff smoking, often ignoring the one cigarette-disposing container that is provided.

The non-smoking students have to walk through the large cloud of smoke in order to get into the college as each of the entrances to the school are filled with smokers.

In terms of being allowed to smoke marijuana where tobacco is smoked, the argument remains the same. Students who are smoking marijuana at school have the ability to smoke it right in front of the college.

This means that people driving by can see them and students have to walk through the marijuana smoke to enter the college.

However, since it is in the student code of conduct that students are not permitted to be high in the classroom, the majority of marijuana smokers are not consuming it at the college anyways.

As a cigarette smoker myself, I have yet to see anyone smoking marijuana at the College so I do not think that the legalization of marijuana warranted a completely smoke-free campus.

It would have been more beneficial to both the smokers and the non-smokers if there were still smoking sections at the College, but the number was reduced. There are several low-traffic and secluded areas on campus where smoking sections could be located.

Yes, the smoking area in the D courtyard was centrally located and required non-smokers to walk through the smoke, but there were a number of other areas where the only people there were smokers.

For example, the smoking section outside of the A building was a small secluded area that students could access in between classes and not bother non-smoking students.

Just because the College is telling students that they cannot smoke on campus does not mean that they are just going to stop.

Tobacco is an addiction and it is difficult and often harmful to quit cold turkey. Considering the time frame between the decision and the implementation of going smoke-free was quite short, the College did not have the opportunity to prepare resources for students to assist them to quit smoking.

Although students are smoking right at the entrance to the College, there really is nothing that Fanshawe can do about it. The sidewalk is not Fanshawe’s property so they do not have the right to ask students to move. If the College were to offer a limited number of smoking areas on campus, they would have a better opportunity to control it and ensure that students are smoking where they want them to smoke.
Editorial opinions or comments expressed in this online edition of Interrobang newspaper reflect the views of the writer and are not those of the Interrobang or the Fanshawe Student Union. The Interrobang is published weekly by the Fanshawe Student Union at 1001 Fanshawe College Blvd., P.O. Box 7005, London, Ontario, N5Y 5R6 and distributed through the Fanshawe College community. Letters to the editor are welcome. All letters are subject to editing and should be emailed. All letters must be accompanied by contact information. Letters can also be submitted online by clicking here.