Monday, October 20 2008
The campus-wide smoking ban being discussed by administrators at the University of Minnesota is a polarizing issue. Some people believe that smoking on campus should be outlawed due to health risks associated with secondhand smoke. More utilitarian individuals believe that smoking on campus should be allowed, stating that people have a right to smoke as long as other people aren’t seriously affected.
Nevertheless, the proposed smoking ban is a gigantic waste of time and resources.
This campus is simply too large to manage and enforce a smoking ban. In order to police and punish smokers to ensure that this campus is smoke free, the police force would have to be increased tenfold, and would have to devote an inordinate amount of time looking for smokers.
University police have been stretched thin as it is. If the smoking ban were enacted, police would be forced to patrol campus grounds to find smokers and fine them. The department should have bigger things to worry about.
Smoking Ban is a Waste of Time continues...
