Editor,
This smoking-ban issue is really getting on my nerves - more so than the secondhand smoke that supposedly pollutes the entire campus. I am not a smoker, but I am completely against the ban on smoking.
Since when is it OK to take a constitutional right away from a public university? If people are paying to come to school here and get a proper education, why can't they enjoy a perfectly legal activity, such as smoking a cigarette while walking to class? We already have rules on campus that state a smoker cannot stand near any doors or windows, and that they cannot smoke in any buildings, so why continue trying to force people to quit doing something they enjoy? If people want to smoke, let them.
If you don't like the smoke and you see smokers coming your way, avoid them. It's a big campus, and smoke dissipates relatively quick outdoors. Yes, secondhand smoke kills people every year, but so do cars - maybe we should ban those, too.
If this ban passes, I can't wait to see how the University is going to deal with people that refuse to abide by the new rule.
Are we going to have a squad that goes around and suspends people from campus or will people be cited for performing a public right?
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Maybe the University should worry more about important matters, like providing students with better resources to practice safe sex, added security in parking lots and finding us a president instead of dictating people's personal choices and freedoms.
Get realistic, UNM, and stop trying to force your beliefs on others. Maybe when half the student population transfers to Central New Mexico Community College, UNM will realize that it can't always tell people what they can and cannot do, especially when people pay a lot of money to be here.
Deadra Wright
UNM student
