Meramec campus police hopes to enforce smoking ban as early as spring
Kelly Glueck
-Managing Editor-
A proposal for a $15 smoking fine at all STLCC campuses is pending approval by the STLCC Board of Trustees. The policy could be approved as early as January 2012.
Campus Police Chief Paul Banta said that while the Kirkwood police force has the ability to enforce and ticket violators, campus police are still waiting on the Board of Trustees to finalize a means of enforcing the campus-wide ban.
“We hope that come spring semester we will be able to issue summons in response to the non-compliance. The date could change, based on when we receive authorization from the board,” Banta said.
Banta said that campus police are doing what they can to enforce Meramec’s “Tobacco Free for You and Me” ban.
“We’ve put extra personnel on to make sure everyone is complying and that those chronic offenders are going to be referred to the VP of Student Affairs for disciplinary actions,” Banta said.
Banta said that campus police has received feedback from faculty and administration. Some say they have seen some improvement in the compliance since the personnel addition, he said.
Students Brett Paffrath and Anthony Albers disagree. The two were openly smoking in the Student Center quad between classes. They both acknowledged that they were aware of the campus’s smoking policy.
“We’ve been approached countless times by staff and campus police. It’s just stupid. They need a designated smoking area or something,” Paffrath said.
While Paffrath and Albers have been approached by faculty and campus police approximately a dozen times this semester, student Lauren Hilleren has yet to be confronted.
“I’m not on campus a lot, so it doesn’t really effect me except for times like right now. I try to get away from people so I’m not in people’s faces. People don’t like it and I try to stay conscious of that,” Hilleren said as she took a smoking break before an exam. “But I am a smoker and I had to get my fix.”
Campus employee Jeffery Maness and a coworker enjoyed their cigarettes outside of the designated campus limits.
“As an employee, we’re required to smoke off grounds since the smoking ban should be in effect soon,” Maness said. “I’m pretty sure they’re going to start writing tickets and I don’t want any of that.”
Right now, disciplinary actions could include carrying out St. Louis County or Kirkwood fines. Banta said he hopes students comply so there is no reason to issue fines. Current disciplinary action includes making note of repeat offenders and sending their case to the Vice President of Student Affairs Lin Crawford. According to Banta, the vice president would have the power to “dismiss” a student.
According to Banta, no student has been asked to leave over the ban. However, he said that the noncompliance has been an inconvenience and may compromise how hastily police are able to respond to calls.
“There are many other things campus officers could be doing besides monitoring whether people smoke or not,” Banta said. “Compliance gives us better opportunity to serve the students as far as assuring their safety and doing the normal things we do on campus.”
