Effective July 1, Harford Community College will be a smoke-free campus.

Its board of trustees voted 3-2 with one abstention Tuesday night to ban smoking anywhere on campus, even in people’s personal vehicles.

Currently, smoking on campus is limited to parking lots and two designated areas outside buildings.

James LaCalle, the college’s president, said the ban on smoking in cars would probably not be aggressively enforced, but he hoped it would perhaps send a message to smokers.

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“Maybe they will use this as an opportunity to quit, and with our free smoking cessation classes, we can help them with that,” he said Wednesday.

Students, faculty and staff found smoking on campus can be subject to a $50 fine, three hours of community service on campus or the completion of an educational project, according to LaCalle’s recommendation. In cases where teachers or college staff are found smoking on campus, the violation would be reported to the employee’s immediate supervisor for disciplinary action.

LaCalle said that in most cases the violator would be warned before disciplinary measures were taken or a fine levied.

Bryon Warnken, a criminal law professor at the University of Baltimore School of Law, speculated that Harford would win any litigation about the constitutionality of the new policy because the school owns its property and can set its own regulations.

Trustees Douglas Wright, a Bel Air orthopedic surgeon, Bryan Kelly, a financial planner from Darlington, and Richard Streett, a Bel Air veterinarian, voted for the ban.

Trustees Howard McComas, a Bel Air funeral home owner, and Bradley Stover, a Bel Air attorney, voted against it.

Stover said he worried the ban could have “unintended consequences,” such as increased traffic from smokers driving up and down the nearest streets adjacent to campus.

mplum@baltimoreexaminer.com