According to many in the ASUO, controversy appears to be slowly brewing on University campus — over smoking. The ASUO believes smoking on-campus is a major issue and the campus has been debating whether or not to ban smoking in its parameters. But despite assertions by ASUO President Amelie Rousseau that this is a burning topic, most students do not seem bothered.
There has been no great demand for such a ban — no banners or protests.
People have been walking to and from class smoking peacefully, completely unaware that their way of life is being threatened. In fact, few, if any, students seem to be aware of the situation.
This seems like a shameless attempt by the ASUO to scare up an issue out of pure boredom. Rousseau has been campaigning for the ban out of safety concerns, claiming that it’s “about protecting students and staff from second-hand smoke … people do have to travel between buildings and are exposed to second-hand smoke on campus.”
Of course, the dangers stemming from inhaling the odd whiff of smoke in a wide-open outdoor environment are incalculable, but on a student level there has been no real outcry. The standard perimeter of 25 feet is being kept around buildings.
Additionally, it’s not as if a huge precedent has been set. No other Pac-10 school is considering a ban and only
ten campuses in Oregon ban smoking (most of which are either community colleges or health schools). Here at the University of Oregon, students don’t just show up for anthropology and then go home. They actually live here and the student government doesn’t have the right to tell anyone not to smoke in their own backyard.
The ASUO doesn’t appear to have qualms about doing so, however.
 “We want to make it easier for people to live healthier lives,” Rousseau said. By forcing students to walk off campus to enjoy a cigarette the ASUO hopes to discourage people into quitting.  
One of the wonderful things about college is being able to make life choices independently. This isn’t high school anymore. If someone wants to smoke and they’re doing it outside, they are at the appropriate age to make that decision themselves. It is not the ASUO’s, the university’s or even their parent’s role to dictate that.
Even if this ban passes, who is going to make sure that students don’t just turn a blind eye to the ban and continue smoking? Rousseau argues that the Department of Public Safety should undertake this task, but this seems both unrealistic and unfair. The main priority for DPS is protecting the University and its students, not running around issuing citations
to students for smoking a cigarette too close to Fenton Hall. Don’t they have MIPs to serve?
DPS should spend time preventing illegal actions from happening. Underage drinking, theft, vandalism and drug use are all concerns they need to address — but smoking?
Smoking is a very small concern relative to other campus issues. DPS seems to have their hands full enough dealing with things that actually put people in immediate danger. We shouldn’t stretch them out
and force them to take on yet another nuanced task. Let’s use time in an appropriate way.
What is most trivial is the fact that most students on campus never had an issue with smokers on campus. If the ASUO is there to serve students and voice their concerns, then they shouldn’t voice concerns that don’t come from students and they shouldn’t alienate the countless smokers on this campus. They pay tuition as well.
As long as smoking remains legal in America, it should remain legal on our campus. Because for some people this isn’t just a campus; it’s home.
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