While the policy restricting smoking to areas beyond a 25 foot perimeter of all University facilities took effect Jan. 1, there are no specific enforcement activities for the ban, according to Jack Colby, assistant vice chancellor for facilities operations.

Colby said the University has been a bit more lenient since the smoking restrictions are a new policy.

“This is a change for everybody, and over the long term, we want it to be effective,” Colby said. “But we also want to give people the opportunity to change their normal habits.”

He also said the main thing facilities is doing now to increase enforcement is to increase visibility of the restrictions.

“We hope that through the signage and moving the different ash urns away from the buildings that we send a clear message to everyone,” Colby said.

While Colby said there has been little enforcement of the policy, he also said that he has not heard any complaints about students, faculty or staff members not following the restrictions.

“I’ve only gotten inquiries about [the policy],” Colby said. “There are no smoking police.”

However, Summer Jones, sophomore in First Year College, said she seen several students, even professors smoking within 25 feet of a building.

“I was walking by [Burlington Hall] and the professor was definitely not 25 feet from the building,” Jones said. “She was leaning against the building wall smoking right beside the door.”

Jones said that the ban has helped some students to cut down on smoking, but in order for the restrictions to help anyone, “professors and staff need to follow the ban.”

Although there are no enforcement plans indicated in the policy’s legislation, Colby said that by breaking this policy the same repercussions would occur if any University policy on campus was violated.

“If there was a report of students smoking outside a residence hall, then that would be reported to Residence Life, and they would be asked to take normal action as they would with any other behavior problem,” Colby said.

He also said that the same rules would apply for University employees.

“It would be viewed as a personal action between the employee and their supervisor,” Colby said.

On the other hand, other students such as Alexandra Yaconetti, freshman in chemistry, and Casey Bartos, sophomore in biochemistry, said they feel that people on campus are following the smoking policy.

“If these [ash receptacles] are far enough away people will follow them,” Bartos said.

Peter Bui, freshman in business management, also agreed that students are following the restrictions, except while walking around campus. He also said that he feels the policy is being enforced, just not by University.

“Our [resident director] has enforced a separate rule where we have to smoke at the top or the bottom of the Wood Hall parking lot,” Bui said. “There’s receptacles [closer to the building], but we’re not allowed to use them.”

Jones said she felt the main problem with the campus not following the smoking restrictions was that a lot of the University is not aware of the policy.

“A lot of people aren’t aware of the ban …I haven’t seen any [No Smoking] signs around campus,” Jones said.

According to Colby, the signage for the smoking restrictions was just completed in March. He also added that the goal of this policy was not about punishing people, but correcting their behavior.

“It’s a corrective process,” Colby said. “What we’d like everybody to do is become familiar with it and do what they can to be able to comply with it.”