Beginning in March, the Skyline College Health Center will go forward with their “Clean Air Campaign,” which is a voluntary enforcement of the existing smoking policy on campus.
     While the driving force behind this campaign is the Skyline Health Center’s nurse Barbara Wylie, others on campus such as head of Facilities, Paula Bray, head of campus security, James Herndon and Rosemary Ybarra-Garcia vice president of student services.
     The smoking policy at Skyline prohibits smoking in all indoor locations, within a distance of 15 feet outside of a public access doorway to a building, and within a distance of 15 feet from the vicinity of an air intake. Unfortunately the areas within the fifteen feet of the buildings are not completely free of smoke, as people still smoke well within the 15-foot boundary, causing many problems for the classrooms and staff inside.
     The Health Center is hoping that with the “Clean Air Campaign” they can encourage smokers to stay outside of the 15-foot boundary of these buildings, allowing clean air to ventilate through the classrooms.
     When a smoker smokes too close to an entry way or vent the smoke from cigarettes goes into buildings. This contaminates the classrooms making it hard on both students and professors to get through class.
     “There have been many complaints by both faculty and students about the smoke getting into the building,” said Barbara Wylie. “The smoke makes it difficult to sit through class and sometimes this forces students with respiratory problems to drop classes.”
     Leaflets will be passed out to those smokers who are in violation of the smoking policy, which will inform them of the dangers of the smoke entering the buildings. These leaflets will also notify the smokers of the dangers to second hand smoke, the effects that second hand smoke has on asthma and respiratory illnesses, the dangers for pregnant women, and the increase of lung cancer, heart disease and bronchitis.
     In addition to the leaflets, the ashtrays outside the buildings will be moved back 15 feet in order to keep the smokers to stay the minimum distance from the building.
     The Health Center wants the smokers on campus to know that there are classes available to them if they are interested in quitting. The promoters of the “Clean Air Campaign” know that smoking is an addiction and people who smoke need the same support that any addict would need.
     If you are interested in the cessation classes, also known as the classes that help smokers quit, you can contact the Health Center at (650) 738-4270. These classes are free and there to help smokers lead healthier lives.