It’s been a long day, class is finally out and all I want to do is find a spot to sit down and have a smoke. I grab a seat on a bench, smile at a girl who’s studying on the bench next to me, and light up. The girl, who just moments ago smiled back at me, now shoots a look of disgust, gets up and walks away. I feel like a leper.

There is no secret that smoking is bad for your health. The Surgeon General’s warning on every pack reminds me that I’m probably going to get cancer because of my silly addiction. But smoking is legal and I am an adult. I have the right to choose my own destiny.

The social stigma attached to smoking seems entrenched on campus. Everywhere you look there are “No Smoking” signs.  State law prohibits smoking within 20 feet of any building and there’s nowhere in California I know of where you can smoke inside.

While there are plenty of areas where you cannot smoke on campus, there is no specified area where you can. So smokers are left to figure out where they can go for their little break that will cause the least amount of offense to the non-smoking people by whom they are surrounded.

Missi Elliott, freshman speech pathology and audiology major, has been smoking for nine years and thinks there should be smoking areas on campus to avoid the ugly stares she gets while smoking.

“People will smile and give me nice looks when I sit down to read a book,” Elliott said. “But, when I pull out a cigarette I get dirty looks, so I try to find places where there aren’t a lot of people around when I need to smoke.”

Finding a place on campus without a lot of people around can be really difficult.  When it’s raining and cold outside, smokers really have nowhere to go.

If there were designated areas around campus, then non-smokers would not have to deal with the secondhand smoke they are now forced to deal with in other common areas.

Shannon Ayers, senior art studio major, has asthma.  Secondhand smoke is not only annoying to her, but it can potentially be dangerous. She’s also offended by smokers who drop their butts on the ground.

“Smoking areas would only be effective if there was a crackdown on people who smoke in other areas,” Ayers said.

Under the current university policy, there are a variety of consequences for people caught smoking in designated non-smoking areas.  For instance, a student can be referred to Student Affairs for disciplinary action by the student judicial officer for ignoring the policy.  But because it is only a policy and not a law, campus police officers are unlikely to stop people who they see smoking.

For most smokers, though, the negative response from those around them is enough to prevent lighting up in a non-smoking area. 

It seems providing smoking areas on campus would make everyone happy.  Smokers would have a place to go where they are free to puff away without public persecution. Non-smokers would be able to breathe fresh air that’s not polluted with secondhand smoke.

As long as there are no designated smoking areas, those who partake and those who don’t will have to live together in harmony.  Smokers, try to stand down wind.

Kelly Walters can be reached at [email protected].