To the Editor:The law that was passed by Pennsylvania to, “clean up the air,” in public places is a good law. Smoking causes more deaths in every country around the world than I would care to think about. This is because I am a smoker. But, the banning of smoking cigarettes outside of the buildings on campus has in my opinion gone one step too far. The law is good in the sense that it bans smoking indoors in public places. I myself don’t like to eat dinner and have the pungent smell of burnt tobacco invade my palette as I’m ready to eat a delicious meal at a restaurant. But there have always been non-smoking sections in restaurants and many establishments were already smoke free (take Landmark for example). Smoking inside of buildings should be banned. No one should have to sit and inhale the products of addiction from another person and have their health affected. Smoking inside of buildings on campus was banned a long long time ago. The choice to make smoking illegal inside of WCU facilities has long been in effect.This is where I have an issue. I noticed that ashtrays and smoking recepticals have been removed all over campus. Let me make a point. I don’t smoke because I like to smell bad or endanger others, but because I am addicted to a product. I have been lighting cigarettes on campus for four years and I don’t intend to stop. Since the law was passed no one is enforcing it and people like me are going to continue to smoke. So when I see WCU employees taking the ashtrays away from the buildings it doesn’t make sense. People aren’t going to stop smoking on campus but yet they take the ashtrays away? My point is that almost all of my friends who are non smokers feel that it is just fine to smoke outdoors (even on a state campus). In the bigger picture, it does not make sense to remove smoking recepticals because it is only going to cause a bigger headache for the staff at WCU. Now when I’m done with a cigarette, I might just throw it right on the ground along with the hundreds of other cigarette butts that will already be there. If the administration is willing to look the other way (which I’m happy about) then lets just keep it our little state campus secret. Otherwise we can look forward to a lot more litter on the ground and more fights to come in the future.
Annonymous
West Chester Student