I would like to comment on the issues surrounding UB's revised smoking policy which was discussed in the article "UB Tells Students To Butt Out" in the 8/28 issue.
I wholeheartedly agree with the students quoted in the article that oppose the policy. I believe it is an unfeasible, unrealistic and indeed absurd policy to ban smoking on 95 percent of both campuses. I am sure that I, as well as many other smokers, will not pay much attention to the policy (if any) as it is not only extremely impractical to, for example, walk all the way across campus, e.g. from Alumni Arena to the Student Union, during a 10 minute break, just to smoke.
It is not that I as a smoker am not concerned about other people's health as they after all should not be made to suffer as a result of involuntarily inhaling second hand smoke. I agree that we smokers should respect other people's wishes and not smoke in public buildings. I strongly oppose the movement to curtail outside smoking. As much as it is every non-smoker's right to breathe clean air, it is our right to smoke tobacco products.
As an adult I feel it is my right to smoke if I choose to, and I would like that choice to be respected as much as a non-smoker's choice to not smoke. This is especially true for the university apartments. Even though I do not and will never live there due to the exorbitant amounts of rent and other factors, I believe that an apartment on campus is a person's private living space just as much as an off campus apartment is, and as such the tenants should have the option to rent an apartment in which they are allowed to smoke. I fail to see how University Residence Halls and Apartments would not like to make more money from renting out smoking apartments, possibly with air filtering equipment built in, at a higher price.
To that end I believe that it would be a much better idea to work out a compromise instead of curtailing smokers' rights left and right. Such compromises could include designated smoking areas outside every building in addition to a few designated outdoor areas, spread over both campuses. Another reason for this is our safety while smoking. Right now all smoking areas are supposed to be able to accommodate hundreds of smokers. This is obviously impossible and therefore more smoking areas would definitely make sense. If alternatively there are not enough spots on campus to convert into smoking areas I could imagine specific smoking rooms equipped with filtering air conditioning, so-called smoke eaters, and "safe" entrances and exits akin to safe areas at banking institutions.
