Dear Editor,
I would like to address the concerns of the non-smokers, published recently in your paper.
First, I would like to apologize on behalf of smokers to anyone who is offended by the ones who litter the grounds with their cigarettes.
I too, feel this action is wrong, and I try to make every effort to properly dispose of my cigarettes.
To anyone who litters, I have this to say. The campus is not a garbage can. The earth is not our dumping ground. It is our living environment. Clean up your act.
Secondly, I want to address the issue of smokers and their disregard of the “No Smoking Beyond this Point” signs.
The simple fact is, I don’t feel its right for the university to not allow us a safe, and covered area near such buildings to smoke, if not a room inside the building all together.
There are several buildings on campus where students can smoke inside certain rooms, and are protected by the elements.
It would alleviate a lot of problems if such facilities existed in more buildings than the handful they do now.
I respect that non-smokers do not want to breathe my polluted air, but they can also respect that I don’t want to get drenched in the rain (and possibly catch serious cold) to have my cigarette.
And yes, I do believe I have a right to put as much black smoke into my body as I want to without adding the risk of pneumonia from standing in the rain to do it.
Completely eliminating smoking from the campus will only upset staff, faculty and student smokers.
There are a good number of us who spend the entire day on campus. How fair is it to tell them they can not smoke for 8-10 hours out of the day?
The university should be looking for ways to accommodate us, rather than exclude us.
Jamie Whitfield

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