By Josh Williams
As the conclusion of the 2010 fall semester rolls around, the University of Louisville looks forward to welcoming the incoming students prepared for the spring semester. However, these new students might reconsider their choice in college when they discover some of the reforms that have taken place on campus. On Nov. 18, the university put into effect a smoking ban that outlaws smoking on campus grounds, including the established smoking areas, forcing students to travel off campus in order to enjoy cigarettes, no matter the time of day.
The reasoning behind this ban deserves no criticism. This is an attempt to clean up the air and to decrease litter on campus, ultimately creating a more environmentally friendly campus. Ideally, there will be less pollution in the air and almost no cigarette butts littering the grounds of U of L. This seems like a win-win situation for all involved. Unless, that is, you are a smoker.
In the aftermath of the ban, U of L expects to receive both opposition and support, and rightfully so. Both sides have valid arguments in their arsenal and feel as if their rights as students are at stake. The nonsmokers feel as if they have the right to clean air without secondhand smoke, which, if exposed to over time, can be potentially harmful. On the other hand, smokers feel that they have the right to enjoy cigarettes on campus. The university completely sided with the nonsmokers and removed cigarettes completely. This is not fair to those that do smoke and, thus, is not a just solution.
A fair solution to this was already in place, in the form of smoking sections. The smoking sections should be kept intact because they allow for certain parts of campus air to be polluted with cigarette smoke, which can easily be maneuvered around by those who wish to breathe clean air. This allows for both sides to be happy and is a just solution, allowing all student rights to be upheld. The real problem is when smokers stray from their designated areas, breaching upon the nonsmokers’ rights. The smoking sections should be enforced more strictly in order to remove this problem. This would once again allow for all students’ rights to be upheld, allowing this issue, not the freedom of students, to go up in smoke.
