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Grand Rapids Community College smoking ban leads to complaints of students, staff lighting up off campus 

Smoking on the Grand Rapids Community College campus has dropped significantly since a ban gained teeth this fall -- but apparently trespassing from students and staff is on the rise.

President Steven Ender said he has heard complaints that students and staff looking for a nicotine nook are walking across the street to businesses, homes and other places to light up, often leaving a trail of butts that need to be cleaned up.

Ender is urging people who feel the need to light up to head to four off-campus spots, including Cancer Survivors Park up the street. GRCC President Steven Ender "It's a problem," he said Wednesday. "As we've grown more aggressive on the enforcement side, people looking to smoke are crossing the street onto other people's properties and even backyards."

Grand Rapids Public Library leaders are among those grumbling. Spokeswoman Kristen Corrado said students have been found sitting in window ledges, in the parking lot and on sidewalks, dropping butts and even rubbing out cigarettes on the side of the building.

"We want people to feel welcome in our building, and we think it's nice that community college students use the library," she said. "But we're also a smoke-free facility."

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