LEWISTON – Joshua Spear is a smoker.

The 18-year-old from Lewiston doesn’t light up a whole lot. He figures he indulges once a day during his shift as a landscape assistant at Bates College.

But next time Spear wants a cigarette at work, he won’t be able to duck into a doorway for a quick smoke.

Starting this fall, all Bates vehicles and buildings – including dorm rooms – will be smoke-free. Outside, smokers will have to move at least 50 feet away.

“I think there should be designated areas where people can smoke,” he said. “In the middle of winter, you’re going to have to freeze to go outside.”

Bates has banned smoking in public buildings and a few of the college’s 33 dorms for the past few years. In most residences, students were allowed to smoke in their rooms as long as their roommates agreed. Staff and students were allowed to smoke outdoors, including a small plaza outside the student union building.

But over the years, officials heard from an increasing number of students annoyed at the secondhand smoke. In dorms, a student’s roommate might agree to smoking, but neighbors were sometimes bothered by the smoke that drifted down the hall.

“We thought, Now’s the time to encourage healthy living in all our residences,'” said Associate Dean of Students James Reese.

This summer, college officials instituted a total, campus-wide ban on tobacco products, including pipes, cigars, cigarettes and chewing tobacco. Smokers can light up only when they’re 50 feet from a college building.

No complaints

With its stricter policy, Bates joins a host of other Maine colleges and universities that have prohibited smoking inside and within range of campus buildings. The University of Southern Maine, the University of Maine at Farmington, the University of Maine at Presque Isle, Colby College in Waterville and Bowdoin College in Brunswick all have similar bans. Like Bates, the University of Maine in Orono started banning smoking in residence halls this year.

Bates students were notified about the new policy in a summer newsletter. Officials said they haven’t heard any complaints.

Nonsmokers Carrie Garinger and Carrie Curtis, Bates College alumni and admissions office employees, applauded the ban.

“The more we get rid of it, the better,” said Garinger.

They agreed that Bates wasn’t a big smoking campus. But both had encountered issues with secondhand smoke in the past.

“I think most people will accept it,” Curtis said. “Some of the smokers might complain.

Michelle Gomperts, a nonsmoking senior, said she wasn’t sure, though, whether the ban would really work. In the winter, she said, many people aren’t going to want to walk 50 feet from a building to light up.

“I’m guessing people are still going to be smoking on the porches,” Gomperts said. “I think it’s going to be just a new issue for security.”

For his part, Spear said smoking isn’t a big deal. He understands the health effects of cigarettes and secondhand smoke. He doesn’t smoke very often, and when he does he tries to be considerate of those around him.

But while he’s happy to give up a little for nonsmokers, he’d like to see some space dedicated for people who still use tobacco.

“They have to give a little for the smokers, too,” he said.