Dear The Argus,

The hot issue on campus has been smoking for a while now, and I am most definitely not impressed with the situation as it stands. I am a third year Con-Ed non-smoking student living on campus, and the situation affects me a little more than I would like.

For a little re-cap: Administration pushed through a student referendum at the end of my first year, to ask whether the campus should become a non-smoking one. The results came out (among much grumbling and accusations of a deliberate trick question,) that the following year the campus would be completely smoke free. Next year rolled around and people were smoking as usual -- half the people didn't know, half the people didn't care. When the rule started being enforced, people began smoking on the sly -- staff included. (Don't think that those of you who smoked in the bushes behind Keewatin went unobserved!) In response to the general outcry, this year Administration has introduced a compromise: labeled smoking areas.

Now, I don't know how these smoking-areas are working out for the smokers, and I am not about to risk lung cancer to go into one and ask, but I for one am not too impressed. For the most part people are using them, which comes as a surprise. However, I don't imagine the smokers will be too delighted to be using them when come winter, as the smoking-areas consist of blocks of cement arranged together in a square and offer no protection against inclement weather.

As for me, I object to them because of where they are placed. I don't know who had the bright idea of putting the smoking-areas along all the major walkways on campus, (or what they were on at the time,) but it is unappreciated. I understand that it probably encourages the smokers to actually use the areas, but it exposes non-smokers to more smoke than ever. It used to be that every time I walked to class, I would pass by one or two smokers, hold my breath for a second, and move on. This year, I get to walk by a smoking area where many smokers will sit smoking simultaneously, together creating a carcinogenic cloud around them that I estimate to be about a block high and wide.

And this is supposed to be an improvement?

Please, I implore you: Either make only the buildings on campus smoke-free, ban smoking on campus altogether and make people hide in the bushes again, or build actual (air-tight!) shelters for the smokers. Not only to protect the smokers from the weather but the non-smokers from the smoke - which was the goal in the first place, right?

Respectfully yours,
--The duck