Editor,
UNM’s tobacco-free policy has its faults, most of which come from the manner in which it is being treated. Your article in Tuesday’s paper showed that, although the UNM administration has had time to prepare for the change to designated smoking areas, those areas are not clearly labeled, and many of them are not labeled at all.
Many tobacco users complain about the lack of a smoking area at Dane Smith, for instance, and are unaware that a smoking area exists there. The policy states that all designated smoking areas “are clearly marked,” but this is not the case.
If the administration wants us to comply with their policies, then they should be willing to comply with them as well. It’s difficult to believe that this policy isn’t discriminatory toward smokers when marking the designated areas and educating students about the policy hasn’t been a priority, especially when “disciplinary action” can be taken on those who don’t comply due to a lack of information.
The transition to a tobacco-free campus would go much more smoothly if the administration worked with tobacco users instead of intentionally making smoking inconvenient.
Breann Burton
UNM student
