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I remember students complaining about other students smoking outside at University of Texas at San Antonio. Even though they were several feet away from the buildings, students still had to walk through a cloud of smoke to get to those buildings.
Where I went to school it was almost an institution to smoke in front of certain buildings.
That was 15 years ago though. I have been on college campuses since and a LOT less people smoke these days.
Good move, certainly doesn't hurt. But truth is that it likely won't change what's going on behind the scenes in dorm, frats, and other party venues. Those who want to live through some wild times in college will always find a way.
There was a designated smoking area in the high schools I attended in CA back in the 70's to keep the bathrooms from being clogged.
I'm older than you; went to HS in the late 60s. At that time, we were forbidden from smoking and would get in serious trouble if caught. A few years later, they had a designated smoking area. When I was in college, we could smoke anywhere we pleased, including in class. Some of the teachers/profs smoked in class as well. The colleges my kids went to (2002-2013, two kids through grad school) do not allow smoking in the dorms or anywhere inside. When my kids were undergrads (through 2009) smoking was allowed outside at all three of their colleges.
I remember students complaining about other students smoking outside at University of Texas at San Antonio. Even though they were several feet away from the buildings, students still had to walk through a cloud of smoke to get to those buildings.
They couldn't walk around it? It was pretty avoidable for all us nonsmokers at my school.
I can understand banning smoking indoors where it can annoy non-smokers. But outside, one should fee free to puff away --dumb though smoking is. Students have a reasonable right not to sit in a smoky classroom or dorm, or to not have to walk through a scrum of smokers by the doors to get into a building. But nothing, to my way of thinking, gives them the same right in open spaces. And as big a campus as Stanford is, there is loads of open space.
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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Originally Posted by jobaba
I went to college in the 90s in Cali, and you couldn't buy cigarettes on campus. At that time, you could still smoke in shopping malls in some states.
I'm shocked Stanford has taken this long to implement that.
As for banning smoking on campus, I disagree. That was one of the things that defined college. Hanging out between classes and smoking cigarettes.
Of course, lots less people smoke these days.
I'm shocked too, even here in WA there are probably a dozen colleges with a 100% ban on tobacco product use. I would have expected Stanford to lead the parade on something like this.
I can understand banning smoking indoors where it can annoy non-smokers. But outside, one should fee free to puff away --dumb though smoking is. Students have a reasonable right not to sit in a smoky classroom or dorm, or to not have to walk through a scrum of smokers by the doors to get into a building. But nothing, to my way of thinking, gives them the same right in open spaces. And as big a campus as Stanford is, there is loads of open space.
Aside from being a nuisance, smoking in dorms is a potential fire hazard. I mean, most dorms don't even allow hot plates (unless times have changed).
Cigarette smoke can also travel a fair distance. It may not be blowing directly into someone's face but for those who do not smoke the smell of cigarette smoke is rather pungent and unpleasant. I would never tell someone not to smoke, though, even on a college campus.
One thing I remember from college was that the areas where students congregated to smoke cigs were also areas that could best be described as having cigarette butt lawns. It was not pleasant to look at. So many students, for what ever reason, felt the need to leave their butts on the ground instead of properly disposing them that the school actually considered outright banning smoking on campus because of the littering.
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