Residential Life Clarifies Smoking Policy Enforcement

After some inquiry from students, Residential Life clarified their interpretation of the smoking policy at a recent meeting of the Community Directors, affirming that the inclusion of designated smoking areas in the UMBC Smoking Policy is not meant to prohibit smoking everywhere else on campus.

A source in Residential Life confirmed that ResLife will only be enforcing the 20 foot policy henceforth.

A rumor had previously circulated leading CD's and RA's to believe that the policy meant that if students smoked anywhere on campus besides the designated smoking areas, they could be subject to punitive action. Emails claiming this interpretation were sent to residents, and fliers were posted in residence halls containing this false information.

Hopefully this clarification will alleviate undue restrictions on students and allow for accurate enforcement of the actual policy in place.

For a more detailed description of how this clarification came about, visit my personal blog entry on The Rainbow Road Less Travelled By.