Letter: Forum on smoking ban clouded by protesters

Editor,

I want to thank all the participants of the Smoke-Free Campus Forum, especially the panel of experts who presented statistics and ideas, like that more than 3,000 deaths each year are due to secondhand smoke; that cities like Calabasas, Calif., are smoke-free; that Presbyterian campus and all its clinics are smoke-free; that tobacco companies are targeting youth by sweetening cigarettes in a concentrated effort to replace dying smokers; that any amount of secondhand smoke is harmful; that tobacco negatively affects youth; that nicotine is an addiction; and finally, that UNM will eventually be smoke-free.

It was reported that students have tried to change dormitory policies to move smokers away from entrances and enclosed areas without avail.

Many faculty, staff, visitors and students signed our petition to make UNM a smoke-free campus. Comments we received from the audience included, "Thank you for doing this," "I hate it when I'm exercising and I smell that," and "Even a little bit of smoke affects me."

Unfortunately, there were a handful of rude protesters who attempted to disrupt the forum. The small group purposely marched through to parade its opposition, playing music to interfere with panelist presentations and attempting to take over the forum. The group sat down and lit up cigarettes in protest. The audience, including myself, and panelists were accosted with secondhand smoke as the protesters displayed their privilege of smoking on campus. Three young women, thereafter, got up from their seats and moved away from the cloud of smoke blown at them by the protesters.

I urge UNM administration to move forward to amend the policy and remove cancer-causing secondhand smoke from campus - for the health of all of us.

Juan Fidel Larra§aga

UNM staff