Story 2 draft

Bria Lott
Story 2

Students Have Strong Opinions About the New Smoking Ban

On the first day of classes in Fall of 2011, Texas State students were introduced to a new campus wide tobacco ban. It has been about 7 months since the ban and students remain divided on the issue.

This is the first zero tolerance attempt put into action. At first there were just  designated no smoking spots in high-traffic areas like in front of Alkek Library but now that there is no smoking everywhere, everybody has an opinion.

What the campus should recognize is that it takes time to ween people away from tobacco, it’s not easy to quit cold turkey. Since there are a considerable amount of non-smokers on campus, smokers like Tiffany Rainey said things like “I feel ashamed” because people tell her, “You’re wrong for that.”

There is going to be an even bigger divide among the smokers and the non-smokers on campus. Now that smoking is not allowed the people who light up behind buildings will be judged with even more tenacity.

Meanwhile some students believe ,“It’s a positive change for the school” said Courtney Williams a social work major, “I don’t smoke, I’ve always hated it.” Most of the non smokers make the argument of having cleaner air, which is in turn better for every ones health.

Some are hopeful about the future impact the tobacco ban will make, RJ Cichocki said the air will be "Cleaner, and the library won't be a smoke tunnel” anymore.

The University Police Department is supposed to enforce said guidelines but students never see them patrolling campus or handing out tickets. They don’t have the resources to do so.

When Natalie Oliver was asked, How do you think it will affect campus in the long run? She said that if no one is cracking down, people will continue to smoke. They will just hide more.

Students are not confident in the rules set in place, they are questioning whether or not these guidelines are enforced enough to actually make an impact.

When asked “what can the University do to better enforce the smoking ban,” chemistry major Ashley Moran said, "Nothing. It's such a big campus that it would be hard to enforce it and it would be really expensive to also." And Chryseis Weir said "I wish they would enforce it more."