|
opinion:
Smoking ban has
no place on campus
It recently came to
my attention that the do-gooders at the Center for Health Care
Innovation are trying to put a ban on smoking cigarettes on
campus. Yeah, it's for our health, but let's really take a look
at this.
Cal State Long
Beach is a college campus. On the average college campus one
finds high school graduates and up. The average high school
student graduates at age 17 and is usually a legal adult by
the time he or she goes away to college. That makes the college
campus a place filled primarily with adults.
Now, the last time
I checked, legal adults were allowed to buy and smoke cigarettes
and America was a free country. That makes banning cigarette
smoking in outdoor areas, public or not, a question of legality.
We are not in high
school. Principal Skinner can't walk in on us smoking in the
boy's room and bust us. So what makes it okay for college
campuses to stifle one's legal right to smoke and be weazy?
For a campus that
sells cigarettes to students at its convenience store and
serves alcohol at the campus pub, a ban on cigarette smoking
seems a bit hypocritical. Stop making money off our habit
first, and then maybe we'll quit.
CSULB is considered
a "commuter campus" with a lot of older students
returning to get their degrees. How are these people, many
of whom grew up in the free-for-all 1960s and 70s, supposed
to suddenly kick their smoking habits to appease the powers
of CSULB?
Now, I understand
that no one is asking us smokers to quit smoking altogether,
but come on now; how are we supposed to feed our addiction
with "the man" hovering over us and shaking his
finger every time we try to take that late afternoon drag
by The Nugget?
It's obvious enough
that cigarette smoking is not gladly received at our school.
Just look at how many ashtrays there aren't around campus
and it's easy to see that smokers are a minority group at
CSULB. From this attitude, smokers on this campus have learned
to live with keeping their habit as much to themselves as
possible, so why shut us out completely?
I understand that
a call for a 100 percent smoke-free campus is in the student's
"best interest," but it also brings forth a question
of acceptance and tolerance. When second-hand smoke was found
to be a dangerous health issue, we stopped smoking indoors
where the smoke could significantly affect the health of others.
Now, what's the issue? Yes, second-hand smoke is still dangerous,
but it is highly unlikely that smoking outdoors is going to
give little Timmy emphysema while he is away at college.
The purpose of
my rant is not to fight for my right to party, but instead
to issue a wake-up call to all those who think that putting
limits on freedom does not aid in student morale on campus,
it only alienates one group from the next.
Tina Dhamija
is a print journalism major at Cal State Long Beach.
|
