Boise State’s smoking policy is dripping with hypocrisy

In our scientific era of existence we have been realizing the harmful effects on humans that accompany smoking tobacco.
The issue of whether or not smoking is bad for the human body was subject to much dispute for many years and with all the attention it received and continues to receive, it has become quite apparent that yes, it is bad. How many of us realize the extent of the harmful effects?

At Boise State, students have information at their fingertips on smoking through the Health Services. Free tobacco cessation classes are available. The Health Services Website contains many resources for quitting and gives the student an array of tobacco data. Listed on the Website is information on secondhand smoke. The student learns that this smoke is harmful to others even in low quantities, which is why we have smoke-free buildings and smoke-free entrances. I don’t think this is enough.

It isn’t rare that as I walk around campus I encounter other people smoking around me, giving me several inhalations of secondhand smoke. Sometimes people smoke by the “smoke-free” entrance in my path to the door of the library. It would appear that many people think it is alright to contaminate the air others breathe. 

These people must not forget the reasons listed in the Boise State University Policy Manual for the regulation of smoking outdoors, “many non-smokers suffer immediate symptoms (e.g., breathing difficulties, eye irritation, headache, nausea, and asthma attacks).” 

If many non-smokers suffer immediate symptoms, why doesn’t Boise State do more to create an environment that won’t hinder the health of its students? We are safe from secondhand smoke in buildings, within thirty feet of one entrance per building and on the sidewalks to class as long as you don’t cross paths with an inconsiderate, smoking individual. The current policy of protecting students in some places of common treading and not others is hypocritical. Claiming that it is important to protect those who suffer immediate symptoms and then only doing part of the job isn’t responsible.

The task is simple.

The university should make all entrances to buildings and sidewalks no-smoke zones. Some people who smoke are already mindful enough to do this, standing secluded on the grass away from others while smoking. However, there are enough people who either don’t know or don’t care who they hurt while smoking that the university at this time has the duty to intervene.

DOUGLASS TAYLOR
Opinion Writer

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