Warned once, shame on you.

Warned twice, pay the price and get suspended. 

Although Bill Oye, dean of student life, refused to name a specific number, he said he has advised and warned “at least a half dozen to a dozen” students he will suspend them the next time he sees them smoking in the quad.

“It seems clear that the behavior is both repetitive and a willful decision to violate college policy, and they will be suspended,” Oye said. 

With the start of the 2009 fall semester, smoking was banned everywhere on the Pleasant Hill campus, except in the parking lots.

“Willful or persistent smoking in any area where smoking has been prohibited and failure to comply with the directions of the district or college officials” is considered grounds for suspension, according to the Student Code of Conduct.

Oye said suspensions, depending on facts of the case, can range anywhere from two days to the rest of the semester.

For extreme scenarios, more than a year and up to three years is possible, he said.

Oye said he is being considerate to students with “late-start” classes that begin in mid-October, since they may not be aware of the new policy. 

“I’m trying to be fair and ask for cooperation,” he said.

Compliance with the smoking ban is not great during the night classes, when no one patrols the quad, but Oye said he is taking one problem at a time.

Yvonne Canada, the student services manager at the San Ramon Center, said smoking is not a problem there, since it has always been restricted to the parking lots.

“We’ve had to talk with students,” she said, “but I have not had any students who refuse to move.”

DVC students expressed mixed feelings about suspension as punishment for breaking the no-smoking rule.

“I don’t smoke, but this isn’t high school,” said George Santa, 21. “I don’t like to be around it, but I don’t think [suspension] is fair.”

One student said he continued to smoke in the quad, because someone rudely told him to put out his cigarette. “If they were polite, I would have,” Lennon Dahra, 19, said. 

Instead of suspension, Mitzary Guzman, 19, has another idea.

“Maybe writing a letter to the dean or a fine,” she said.

Oye said smoking on campus is not only a rule violation, but also a health hazard.

“People who actually had to avoid the quad due to asthma have told me they can make it to student services now,” he said. “It’s an improvement.” 

Although the problem still exists, Oye said the number of people smoking on campus has declined significantly.

“Is it perfect?” he said. “No, but it’s an improvement.”