The Reflector

Two comments are really stupid in this MSU Smoker debacle:

1) "Smokers do it to be cool." I don't think I need to touch this.
2) "Oh, so we should get the measuring tape?" You probably should if you're an adult and you still can't gauge 25 feet by line of sight, but then, you should probably reconsider your being at MSU.

That said, problems with secondhand smoke are only significant (like death) when you're constantly exposed to it. You won't get cancer because you walk by a random cloud of cigarette smoke for two seconds every day.

THAT said, rules are rules, and they should be enforced, so, yes, I agree that the police should be doing a better job. If a rule is stupid, then it should be fought, not ignored, to get the rule changed. Otherwise you're just picking and choosing what laws/policies are okay to follow and you don't show any real sense of a law enforcer or a law-abiding citizen.

I have seen many people smoking outside the building but near the door or entrance. Sometimes I smell it inside my office as someone be smoking inside and it gets thru the ventilation system. I hope some =one would stop this. I dont wanna mention the name of the building.

"Almost daily, when I walk into my residence hall, people are standing right by the door smoking, and I have to endure the secondhand smoke."

"endure"

Fine word choice. You have to endure the smoke for the 2 or 3 seconds that you are exposed to it. You should probably get a physical and check for cancer, having endured so much exposure this semester. My prayers are with you, Harry.

I completely agree with all your points, but especially with your observation about the smoking canisters/ash trays. I've never understood them being closer than 25 feet to a building.

Please let me know if this article spurs any change.

It's fine if the university wants to ban all smoking, much less smoking within 25 feet of a building. And it's fine if the university wishes to better enforce the current rule. However, to link walking through a little smoke as you reach for a door to lung cancer is absolutely ridiculous. Perhaps research says 3,000 nonsmokers die from lung cancer each year, but that doesn't mean mere exposure kills. And that's 3,000 people out of 300,000,000. So if you believe you're at risk at MSU, you are simply paranoid.

Also, the reason why adults smoke is usually not because of coolness. They typically smoke to relieve anxiety and stress. And a lot of them smoke because they find it enjoyable.

Pass a complete campus wide ban as many other school have done. Then you won't have smokers abusing the rules and smoking in areas where they shouldn't be smoking. And you also will not have discarded butts laying around everywhere.

I'll go with what Pete said. Add to that that throwing down cigarette butts on the ground is (and should be considered as) littering, which is a ticket-able offense, on campus or not. But no one ever enforces that, either, even though I'd be willing to bet that the stuff in cigarettes is way worse for the environment than throwing out a paper cup (not that I advocate that).