Recently, the College Academic Council unanimously passed a "San Antonio College Proposal on Smoking," presented by President Robert Zeigler, to phase out smoking on the college campus.

His proposal came after a series of open forums with students, discussions by various college groups, and surveys. In a survey of 422 students, 70 percent supported smoking restrictions, including 39.6 percent of smokers who were surveyed.

Beginning in the Fall 2004 Semester, smoking on campus will be restricted to a few specified areas, which are sheltered and reasonably far from doorways. Throughout the 2004-2005 academic year, free smoking cessation classes will be offered to help people end their addiction to smoking. Beginning with the Fall 2005 Semester, the entire college campus will be officially smoke-free. An information campaign has begun to inform the college community of the plan and encourage cooperation.

"We will be flexible about the exact timeline," said President Zeigler, "but we believe this is an important step to take to promote the health of our students, faculty and staff."

He added that smoking restrictions would eliminate second-hand smoke hazards for people with serious allergies, improve campus cleanliness, and save money (groundskeepers spend 60 hours a week just cleaning up cigarette butts). Zeigler said the effort also would align the college with the City of San Antonio's similar efforts and with national studies that clearly show how dangerous smoking is to our health and environment.

According to the College Tobacco Prevention Resource, "Tobacco use rose steadily on US campuses through the 1990s. At current rates, an estimated 1 out of 9 of today's college students will die of tobacco-related illness." Their website at http://www.ttac.org/college/facts/negative-effects.html identifies the negative impact on health and environment, including academic and mental performance.

College organizations working to implement the no-smoking policy include the San Antonio College Health and Wellness Committee, chaired by Kinesiology Instructor Dawn Brooks, and the Phi Theta Kappa International Student Honors Society, whose in-coming president is Lisa Chapman. Cancer prevention is the Phi Theta Kappa theme for the 2004-2005 academic year. Faculty sponsor Jeff Hunt can be reached at 733-2753.

Smoking Policy: http://www.accd.edu/sac/sacmain/html/smoking.htm