Gavilan Goes Smoke-Free

Smokers attending Gilroy’s , take note: The campus began its fall semester Wednesday as a “smoke-and-tobacco-free learning environment,” according to college spokeswoman, Jan Bernstein-Chargin.

The Gavilan College Board of Trustees approved the policy during the June meeting, following several years of studying an approach to limiting smoking on campus, the spokeswoman said.

“This moves our campus to significantly better health,” said Alice Dufrense-Reyes, student health nurse and a major advocate of the policy.

The new policy prohibits smoking, and all non-FDA-approved nicotine products, like “e-cigs,” in all but five designated areas. Located in the campus parking lots, each area is separated from traffic and includes a container for cigarette butts.

The policy does not directly affect the college’s other campuses. 

“The Morgan Hill and Hollister sites are building-only—there is no smoking permitted in the buildings," said the spokeswoman. "Once on the sidewalk, smokers are under the jurisdictions of the cities of Morgan Hill and Hollister.”  

The change in policy came approximately three years after the Associated Student Body brought the issue before the campus’s Health, Safety, Facilities and Grounds Committee.  A new “Smoking/Tobacco Cessation Task Force” was created, which met monthly.

In September of last year, the Santa Clara County Department of Public Health also began providing additional help and training to the campus, along with four others, to help develop the policy, Bernstein-Chargin said.

Violation of the smoking policy falls in line with violating the Student Code of Conduct, with repercussions “including but not limited to the removal, suspension or expulsion of a student.”

“There is now legislation proposed in Sacramento that would allow colleges to fine smokers,” said the spokeswoman. “If and when it passes, the board of trustees will have to decide whether or not to enact fines at Gavilan.”

As part of the new policy, any of the more than 6,000 students at the school can seek free smoking-cessation counseling and treatment through the school's Office of Student Health, part of a partnership with Breathe California.