(no subject)
i posted my last post on IUP's livejournal site as well and got a suprising number of people supporting this ban. this was my response that also addresses some of my friend's reactions.
(oh, and to be clear, the ban is not a state thing. the state banned smoking indoors. I'm fine with that law. PSSHE instituted this ban to encompass the entire campus - indoor and outdoor. it's not even Atwater's doing.)
i think my biggest objection to this issue is that smoking is an addiction. it's barely a choice for most people who do smoke. so students who live on campus are forced to walk 15 min. across campus, at all times of day and night, to find an acceptable place to smoke.
- many smokers start their day with a cigarette. they don't know how to function without one because of their addiction. so it's being stated by the school that these people have to take a 15 min. walk to get off campus before they can have one each morning. that's a half hour smokers have to get up before class just so that they can satiate their addiction.
- many smokers smoke at night. so a young, single woman (for example) has to walk, 15 min. to go have a cigarette alone, at night, if she can't find a buddy to go smoke with her. and the chances of finding a non-smoking college student to get off their butts to walk somewhere multiple times a night is slim to none.
- the college instituted this policy in the middle of a semester with no warning. students already living in the dorms don't have a choice to live off campus because they are already tied into a housing contract.
enforce smoking halos. smoking lounges. smoking rooms. those are all reasonable ways to "not infringe on a non-smoker's right to clean air" without punishing smokers for their medically diagnosed addiction.
(oh, and to be clear, the ban is not a state thing. the state banned smoking indoors. I'm fine with that law. PSSHE instituted this ban to encompass the entire campus - indoor and outdoor. it's not even Atwater's doing.)
i think my biggest objection to this issue is that smoking is an addiction. it's barely a choice for most people who do smoke. so students who live on campus are forced to walk 15 min. across campus, at all times of day and night, to find an acceptable place to smoke.
- many smokers start their day with a cigarette. they don't know how to function without one because of their addiction. so it's being stated by the school that these people have to take a 15 min. walk to get off campus before they can have one each morning. that's a half hour smokers have to get up before class just so that they can satiate their addiction.
- many smokers smoke at night. so a young, single woman (for example) has to walk, 15 min. to go have a cigarette alone, at night, if she can't find a buddy to go smoke with her. and the chances of finding a non-smoking college student to get off their butts to walk somewhere multiple times a night is slim to none.
- the college instituted this policy in the middle of a semester with no warning. students already living in the dorms don't have a choice to live off campus because they are already tied into a housing contract.
enforce smoking halos. smoking lounges. smoking rooms. those are all reasonable ways to "not infringe on a non-smoker's right to clean air" without punishing smokers for their medically diagnosed addiction.