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Don't let student freedom get smoked by administration
As far back as can be traced, everyone in my family has smoked. Brothers, mothers, grandparents, everyone in my ancestry except for myself. I do not feel smoking is wrong, but like a multitude of things in this life, it is a personal choice. And in the scheme of all possible lethal addictions, it is meager in comparison. In California, we have banned smoking from restaurants, bars and almost all public establishments, forcing the smokers outside. The smokers have been moved outside in the rain, the cold and the heat, which allows them to indulge their habit while not smoking in an enclosed area with non-smokers. This has yielded a compromise that allows all parties to have some acceptance. Things have been kosher thus far, until our favorite university has decided to up the ante. The new “smoking sections” rule will be in effect soon and there is only one thing we can do. We must get it repealed. Repealed yes, that is what I said—a non-smoker. Why should, with such a large campus as Fresno State, segregate the smokers to particular areas. Is it physically impossible to get away from the smoke from their cigarettes? No, it is very easy to, but we all must have a little patience. The same patience we have for the parking issue, for the cell phone in class issue, for all the other slight inconveniences that occur when you interact in society, which is what college is supposed to get you acclimated too—at least that is what the catalog told me. The people who can reverse this decision, are the very same people who instituted it. We must appeal to the administration, and we must make a statement in force. Letters, petitions, protests and anything that can be done should be. Why would people other than smokers challenge this decision? Does it strike anyone else that this rule is just a tad discriminatory? Just a smidgen? Actually, its quite a bit more than smidgen, it is way out in the territory of stupid rules of based on disproportionate power. Why does such a miniscule rule matter at all? The precedent that it sets is irreversible. We cannot let rules like this set a group apart from the others, or we begin, or further as is probably the case in Fresno, a hideous process of allowing others to make our policies from their seats. We all have slight irritations that irk us in various degrees. Cell phones going off in class bother some, the sight of capri pants agitates others and many show much contempt for smokers when they engage in their nicotine-acquiring habit. The latter is one of such confliction that is being handled by the campus administration. People have bantered about the subject of the smoking sections, but we must realize that we need to do more than discuss. We must dismantle this policy with our power as students, the people paying to attend this college. If any of the students feel as outraged as I do and want to do something about it, e-mail the Collegian or come talk to me and let’s start something before it is too late. — This columnist can be reached at collegian@csufresno.edu |
