Smoking Ban Shot Down At Uni Senate

Thank goodness. I'm not a smoker, in fact, I hate smoking. However, a smoking ban on campus is not the solution. People aren't going to quit smoking as a result of a campus-wide ban, but you can be certain that the rules would be broken often, would lead to more tedious work for the police (if they even bothered to enforce the rules), and it would just create an unhappy situation overall, on a campus where many students already seem to be entirely miserable.

What is wrong with the existing rules? They're not even enforced properly. Perhaps the University should try and enforcing the rules already on the books rather than trying to force through even stricter rules when they are not even needed.

As far as concerns of second-hand smoke, I feel they are entirely moot. If it's an issue of someone smoking within a dorm room, they have to get the permission of their roommates/suitemates. If everyone is okay with it, the university shouldn't have a right to come in and override that, when smoking is still legal and you can buy cigarettes at 18. If it's smoking outside of buildings, honestly, the campus is huge. No one is forcing anyone else to stand next to a smoker, and if the second or two that you'll inhale second smoke while walking into/out of a building is the issue, well...I can guarantee you that isn't nearly as harmful as the disgusting smoke the campus buses that are carrying "some of the brightest minds in the country" spew out. It's also healthier than a lot of the greasy, fatty food served in most campus dining locations (some of which have failed health inspections in the recent path). So at best, the university's position is hypocritical, at worst, it is a blatant violation of one's right to perform a lawful activity in a public space.

One more thing: if the University truly cared about student safety, they would also do the following:

- Get all the streetlamps on campus working again, to avoid incidents such as sexual assaults which have occurred on a few occasions in the past couple of years, and not coincidentally, in areas of campus that are known to not be well-lit.
- Build new parking lots, to alleviate the parking problem on campus. This would ease congestion on the roads, and reduce emissions from cars that are idling or driving around looking for a spot for long periods of time.
- Actually clear and *salt* all the paths and roads on campus when it snows.
- Provide healthier dining options on campus instead of the junk food paradise that currently exists. Yes, I love my junk food once in a while, but I'd like to eat something that grew from the earth once in a while too. Does Stony Brook use trans-fat free oils? I bet they don't. Obesity is much more of an issue than second-hand smoking. You can avoid the smoke, but you can't always avoid those nasty hidden ingredients in foods you eat, especially when your dining choices are limited to junk, junk and more junk.

It's outrageous that the senate should even think they have the right.

Even as a smoker, I supported banning smoking in the dorm rooms. Not only because it's a fire hazard but because it's a pollutant. When people smoke inside, that smoke lingers to leave a sticky layer of film behind. It yellows the wall paint, settles on the windows and flat out deteriorates the room. Even when smoking was allowed last year, I still took my cigarettes outside.

But outside? This might as well be a high school.

First of all I am a smoker and I very much agree with smoking ban in public places, and that's because I respect the other people. Smoking was my choice and nobody has to suffer being around me. I hope that many people understand this and accept it. Anyway I plan to give up and I know that I can't do it alone so I have to attend a drug rehab program for that.