Editor,
Students at UNM deserve the freedom to choose their lifestyle. The last thing the University needs is a restriction on the food that students can eat. Oh, and by the way, smoking is a luxury, and eating is a necessity.
My previous school in Massachusetts did restrict what food students could eat in the cafeteria quite heavily, and this had many negative impacts on the student body.
Firstly, there was no reduction in the level of obesity on the campus. This is probably because if the students couldn't have their fill at school, they'd just eat more candy bars when they got home. Even if they weren't, dieting is only one part of a healthy lifestyle, and the school is not about to force daily exercise on students.
Even worse, many students became malnourished and unprepared for the classes because they would skip meals. Students won't say, "Oh, I can't have a hamburger, so I'll have sushi instead." They'll just say, "Well, nothing I want to eat is here, so I'm just going to ride it out."
This was a problem at my last school. Since not everyone had the time to eat off-campus, this can have negative results in terms of academic performance.
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Another problem was student morale dropped greatly when the school enacted all these restrictions. Students no longer had faith in the school's ability to provide them with what they desired. Many students were angered at the school's efforts to control their lifestyles.
Another issue that came up was a sharp increase in the cost of food on campus, and there was a small number of students who could not afford to eat at all after the price increases.
Even more important is that as university students, we are adults. It's not the job of the school to control what choices we make. We are responsible enough to take care of that ourselves. Saying that the school should kick out any unhealthy restaurants is like saying, "I'm allergic to oranges, so nobody can eat oranges."
You're not going to get sick because someone else ate something bad for you. So, just live and let live. If you're really concerned about the lifestyles of other people, you need to educate them, not force them. After all, we're living in a free country. Let's try to keep it that way.
Philip Rossetti
UNM student
