Tyler Romero has a problem with his daily walks around campus.

Though the University of Colorado banned smoking in August of 2013, Romero still sees at least one person a day lighting up on his way to class or the student center or the library.

Romero, director of health and safety for CU Student Government, wants to change that.

“As a campus that says it’s 100 percent smoke-free, it’s hypocritical to continue to let people smoke,” he said. “Otherwise we should call it a 99 percent smoke-free campus and leave it like it is.”

Truth in advertising, he says.

On a recent balmy day this winter, around a dozen people smoked outside Norlin Library’s west entrance as they enjoyed the sunshine and the view of the Flatirons.

It’s even worse during midterms and finals, Romero said.

The smoking ban is “community-enforced,” said CU spokesman Ryan Huff, which means there’s no group of people, like the police, whose job is to make sure people comply.

Knowing that, Romero challenged himself at the start of fall semester to say something to the people he saw smoking on campus. What he realized over the last six months is that community enforcement doesn’t work that well.

“My experience has been really terrible,” he said. “People don’t want to be told what to do. It’s ‘Why is this kid coming to tell me this?’ I get called names. I get cussed at. It’s really hard to convince my fellow students to enforce this policy.”

So before he asks his peers to risk getting yelled at, he thinks the campus can do a much better job making it clear that smoking is not tolerated. Though he regularly keeps an eye out for posters or signs that say “No Smoking,” Romero said he hasn’t seen many.

Romero is creating large, flashy banners announcing the campus as smoke free, which he hopes will ease the need for more community enforcement.

Now in his fifth year at CU, Romero said he’s seen smoking decrease drastically on campus, but there’s a small percentage of people who won’t stop.

Those people are ruining the campus experience for others, Romero said, but the campus also hasn’t given them a real reason to quit.

“It’s not fair to people who come here thinking it’s a smoke-free campus, assume it’s a smoke-free campus and then see people smoking all the time with no repercussions,” he said.

According to the policy, someone who is seen smoking on campus “may be provided education, offered a referral for smoking cessation and … may be subject to disciplinary action.”

Students can be referred to a student conduct office and employees can be referred to a supervisor for “appropriate action.” Visitors will be required to leave.

It’s unclear if those sanctions are being handed down, though, because the campus doesn’t keep track of smoking ban violations.

“We have not tracked the number of times someone has been asked to stop smoking or the number of times a student or employee has been disciplined or received a verbal advisement from their supervisor for smoking on campus,” said Huff. “We don’t have a mechanism to track that among our many departments.”

In contrast to what Romero has seen, Huff said the campus has posted signage “all around” and has “engaged in significant messaging on this topic.” He said the campus plans to add more signage soon.

“While there is always more we can do to educate the public, we believe the word is out that smoking is no longer allowed on campus,” Huff said.

Last year, Boulder issued 18 citations across the city for smoking in prohibited areas. In 2014, those areas included the Pearl Street Mall and the downtown Civic Area, encompassing Central Park and the Municipal Campus.

Boulder police and fire spokeswoman Kim Kobel said officers likely had contact with many others caught lighting up, but may have issued warnings instead of tickets.

She said officers generally give people an opportunity to comply with the rules before issuing a citation, though it’s up to each officer.

Romero said he laughs when he considers how hard the campus cracked down on marijuana consumption during the annual 4/20 holiday several years ago, yet people smoke cigarettes in plain sight every day and don’t seem afraid of the consequences.

“Tobacco is an extremely dangerous substance and yet we treat other substances with far more criminality,” he said. “It’s unfortunate because I think as a university we’re promoting a good environment for health in general, but we can do better. We can move this along quicker.”

Sarah Kuta: 303-473-1106, kutas@dailycamera.com or twitter.com/sarahkuta