Can I say a few things about the recent smoking ban vote before everyone gets tired of reading about it and moves on to complaining about how his/her department doesn't have the new building it deserves?
First of all, hale and hearty to everyone who voted in last week's referendum. I didn't agree with 4,143 of you, but that's okay, because taking the initiative to click a link in one's inbox isn't always a given among Ball State University students. The democratic process may very well continue as long as we care enough about the issues to click "yes" or "no." Hale and hearty also to the students I saw (and joined) last Friday afternoon who held signs at the Scramble Light in protest of the ban. I'd also like to thank the Student Government Association for the chance to be vocal, President Jo Ann Gora, my mother, my posse, Timbaland and of course, God.
Let's be serious for a moment. All thanks aside, the political ball was placed firmly in the students' court, and we accepted responsibility for that and all of its implications when we voted.
Smokefreecampus.org, a resource for students interested in starting Smoke-Free movements at their schools, provides facts and statistics on tobacco and its usage, as well as reasons for going smoke-free school-wide and advice on how to get involved. One of the reasons it gives is the old argument that students who do not smoke have the right to clean air. It cites the Americans with Disabilities Act, saying students with asthma and other smoke-related allergies are put at a disadvantage because smoky entrances to academic buildings impede their education. It also ups the ante, claiming that smoke-tolerant universities are liable to lawsuits because of the ADA.
But the Web site's strongest focus is prevention. In terms of eradicating tobacco usage, prevention does what pills, patches, classes, and inhalers only dream of, as only three percent of smokers who try to quit actually succeed in the long run without help, and if you never start, you'll never have to stop. Socially, the Web site advocates norm-changing campaigns to show non-smokers that tobacco use isn't as popular as they might think.
This is all well and good, but what happens in the meantime? A nicotine addiction is still an addiction, and withdrawal still has physical consequences. In the case of a ban, what would a person addicted do? A smoking ban suggests nicotine addicts learn to "just deal," without respect to his or her situation. Logistically, are there teachers lined up for mandatory cessation classes, or will they continue to be optional at higher physical, emotional, and time cost to smokers? Either way, I'll be shaking your hand when the scheduling works out.
Now let's get to the heart of what I'm seeing. Many have asked how the university, which imposed a thirty-foot non-smoking boundary around campus buildings a few years ago but quickly let that rule fall by the wayside when smokers didn't automatically comply of their own volition, expects to impose an even more severe regulation on Ball State's smoking population and be taken seriously? If a smoking ban were to pass, could those who clamor for the right to clean air actually get what they've been asking for, or will the smoking ban be retired like the thirty-foot rule? Based on past action, is anyone really convinced that the university has the willingness and ability to put its money where its smoke-free mouth is?
I accepted my responsibility as a student when I voted against the smoking ban. Do the same, Ball State. If this ban is passed, will it really last, or are you just playing games?
A sign at Friday's protest read, "No one's asking for anything to change." Nothing has to; enforce rules already in place. Ball State, did you ever think you already have what you need?
Write to Joel at jtmiller@bsu.edu
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