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PURCHASE, N.Y. -- Students and visitors on the campus of Purchase College on Friday afternoon were divided on a recently approved smoking ban on all SUNY campuses.
The SUNY Board of Trustees voted to ban smoking on all 63 state college campus across the state beginning on Jan. 1, 2014. Students were previously banned from smoking in dormitories at Purchase College in 2007. Currently, there are designated sections at the college for smokers but they are far away from most places on campus.
Junior Shomar Lowe said that he is against the smoking ban because he doesn't think that it will work. Lowe said that people will just find other shortcuts when they want to smoke.
"If you smoke you have to go through a ton of effort right now to do it," Lowe said. "A lot of people smoke cigarettes on campus now. People will just find ways to circumvent it."
Sophomore Cid Quintana said he doesn't smoke but most of his friends do. Quintana is also against the smoking ban saying that it infringes on smoker's rights.
"Smoking is prevalent on campus now," Quintana said. "If they enforce it I'm 100 percent certain that there will be some sort of rally against it."
Saeko Ito, a graduate of Queens College who was visiting Purchase College on Friday, said that she liked it when her college banned smoking while she was a student there. Though not a smoker, Ito said that there should be places for smokers to go to on campus as long as they dispose of their cigarette butts properly.
Still, others want smoking gone completely. Kaley Pruitt, who also was visiting the campus on Friday said that she supports the ban and is happy that smoking will be prohibited. Pruitt said that people should not be smoking on campus at all.
"I hate smoking," Pruitt said. "They are already polluting their lungs so they don't need to damage mine."
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