Put your cigs out, Hillsdale. It’s time to stop smoking in front of the library.
This isn’t a lecture about the concern of cancer or a plea to save young lungs. This is about respect for fellow students.
Smokers on campus generally keep a low profile. They don’t litter the sidewalks with cigarette butts. It’s rare the student in the adjacent seat in class reeks of smoke. Still, student smokers have inadvertently chosen one of the most highly trafficked areas of campus to light up. It needs to stop.
The colonnade between Mossey Library and Grewcock Student Union traps cigarette smoke and makes it inescapable. Because the area is walled off on one side and has a roof, smoke often travels up and down the tunnel. Sometimes, it doesn’t travel at all. More often, it creates a haze that hangs outside the doors of the library. With several rotating groups of smokers, the presence of smoke is frequent, if not constant. And since walking through the colonnade is pretty much the only option for those going from Lane or Kendall Halls to the union, it’s easy to get caught in the cloud of smoke lingering outside the library doors.
It makes sense that the colonnade is a popular location to smoke. The benches outside the library door, as well as the protection from the wind, make it comfortable, even during the winter. It’s also convenient, nestled between the library and the union. But it’s still an area most students walk through. Smoking there is intrusive and inescapable.
Hillsdale College does not ban smoking from campus, although it is forbidden in the residence halls. The state of Michigan, however, passed a law in 2009 to ban smoking in businesses, restaurants, and bars. The results have been impressive. A 2013 study by the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services showed the law reduced second-hand smoke levels in the legislated areas by 92 percent. Results like this have a big impact on public health.
Exposure to secondhand smoke at work or home increases the likelihood a non-smoker will have a cardiovascular disease or get lung cancer by 20 to 30 percent, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Even a brief exposure to secondhand smoke can put someone at risk.
There is another reason smoking has been banned—most people simply do not want to smell it. Smoking cigarettes has become increasingly stigmatized, and public attitudes have shifted. People once saw it as glamorous but now see it as unhealthy. Although catching a whiff of second-hand smoke won’t have the lasting effects of prolonged exposure, it can cause other problems.
As someone who gets sick with coughs or lung infections multiple times a year, often for prolonged periods, I speak from personal experience when I say smoke outside the library causes coughing fits and general lung and throat irritation. Harsh Michigan winters, complete with numbing cold and bitter air, make students susceptible to respiratory infections such as bronchitis. Even if I cover my face as I walk by, I still often inhale smoke, which can be physically bothersome. And for those with asthma, being affected by smoke can be a year-round problem.
We don’t need to ban smoking from campus entirely. There are two simpler solutions. Students who wish to continue smoking on the benches directly outside the library can switch to e-cigarettes. Because e-cigarettes work with water vapor, they don’t produce smoke and are much gentler on the throats of passers-by. They also come with options for nicotine, so students wouldn’t be giving up their addiction.
Alternatively, students could stand outside the colonnade. Because the close wall and overhang trap most of the smoke, moving to open air would eliminate most of the problem. Although this may not be ideal, it would certainly be more mindful.
So before lighting up, take the extra few steps outside. The rest of the student body (and our lungs) will thank you.
Jordyn Pair is a junior studying Rhetoric and Public Address