Engl 106 On Campus smoking- Solution or Problem?

Sid Saboo

Coming here as a freshman last semester, this seemed a very student friendly campus. Personally I dont smoke, but I did appreciate the university understanding smoking as an addiction and in few extreme cases a need for some people to get through the day. To think about it, providing students an area to smoke was an ideal solution that where students could go about enjoying a cigarette between classes and go carry along their ideal daily activities. Each smoking area also had trashcans, benches and signposts that made it convenient for students to smoke without really littering the campus or also hiding and smoking in other various parts of the campus. DSA, short for Designated Smoking Area is Purdues solution to tackle on-campus smoking. The university in its vast campus has installed twenty-one smoking sites, which are calculatedly spread out and provide areas for smokers to go out and enjoy a cigarette. What made me realize that this ideal solution was not really ideal was a comment from a classmate, a freshman student Olivia Harderback. Its seven-thirty in the morning, and Im heading out to my chemistry lecture and as I walk through Matthew Hall, right as I am walking I am enveloped in front of a cloud of smoke. Well shes right that her path to chemistry lecture in Wetherill building is right in the way of Matthew DSA, and to avoid that she would have to deviate a block which is very uncomfortable on an early cold morning. Further what is more upsetting is that Olivia is an asthmatic1, and even a little puff of smoke inhaled by her is extremely harmful for her body2. This incident got me thinking, are DSAs a great idea after all? Forty-thousand is the class strength of Purdue University, and one can expect a decent amount of students to be smoking, but still there is a large percentage of students who dont smoke which have to be accounted for. DSAs though being a good measure have not been the most well planned feature in the university. And to illustrate this, I want to take into consideration two DSAs in particular the one outside union and the one at Matthew Hall.

Web MD (2011*). Smoking and Asthma. Retrieved from: http://www.webmd.com/asthma/guide/ Smoking-and-asthma. 2 CDC-Fact Sheet-Secondhand Smoke Facts-Smoking & Tobacco Use (March 21st, 2011). Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Retrieved from: http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics /fact_sheets/secondhand_smoke/general_facts/index.htm

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DSA at the union

DSA at Matthew.

These DSAs in particular are positioned in such an area, where maximum body of students pass through at any hour of the day. The Union, which is the heart of activities around campus, and also alongside the largest library on campus (Hickss) is one of the paths walked by hundreds every hour, and as can be seen in the picture these hundreds of walkers have to pass through the DSA at every time they walk to that side of campus. Similarly at Matthews which is a building located around many other buildings like University, Math, Bearing and recitation lies in the path of many students, and is extremely inconvenient to walk through with many smokers making that the environment along the path, unpleasant. These two particular examples are to me a bad case of planning by the university. So why make these smoking zones. To fully be able to understand this question it would be better to first answer why make smoking zones at all. Smoking in general has a stigma and taboo against it and especially in relating to a body imparting education. Most of the students are young adults who want to live a healthy lifestyle and definitely that does not go with smoking cigarettes. A research university like Purdue on one hand has spent millions of dollars on health research and significant amount would have definitely been on tobacco and related products. But why on the other hand are they encouraging smoking by making it legal to smoke on campus. Was it the same half a century ago? The answer is no. Smoking then didnt have so much of a stigma as it has now, and educators used to many a times smoke while giving lectures. But with the increased knowledge of how smoking is related to Cancer and other diseases people have taken precautions to limit smoking and especially not encourage it. But the fact is people smoke. And increasing tax and more articles about the ill effects of smoking will do little to deter smokers who crave cigarettes. That is why smoking zones are made to allow those addicts a convenient location close to classes and around other university areas to be able to grab a cigarette.

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But should this come at a cost of inconvenience to non-smokers. In my opinion is no. People like Olivia should not bear consequences of people wanting to satisfy their craving for nicotine and tobacco. Mohammad Kayed another freshman at Purdue University challenges my opinion. According to him If the university did not provide smokers like me a smoking zones, we would probably smoke anyways all around campus. These smoking zone are extremely convenient as they are in close proximity to anywhere on campus. Imagine people littering and throwing their cigarettes everywhere on campus, now that wouldnt do the university any good, would it?. Coming back to these two smoking areas at Matthew and Union, though badly placed we realize we cannot just get rid of it as some people like Mohammad need a smoking zone, but the best alternative one can offer is to shift the smoking zone to another site.

The requirements of this other site has to be that it is close by to the previous two smoking zones, or else the purpose of investing in a new smoking zone will totally destroyed as people would go and smoke anywhere around the campus because they do not want to walk a large distance to smoke a cigarette. Also this smoking zone has to be located in a secluded area or else another large group of non-smokers will be affected and this whole idea will be a problem. As seen in the picture, Smith is an ideal location for our new smoking zone. Its located just across the street from both these smoking zones. And its a secluded place with few people

Purdue University (2010). Map of Designated Smoking Areas. Retrieved from: http://www.purdue .edu/physicalfacilities/smokefree/map.htm

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passing by it. It would serve as an ideal location to shift these the previously mentioned two sites. The construction for this new site would require around four benches, where each being approximately 400$4 would end up costing 1600$. Sign posts and boards costing in total 360$. Two Cigarette bins and trashcans costing in total around 260 $5. Therefore we could have this new DSA established in less than 4000$ which is pretty economical for the university. This is a far more convenient option than having to put smoking-cabins which though extremely convenient and effective with its in-built exhaust cost a fortune and are therefore not an ideal solution. But before concluding why I have chosen this solution as an ideal solution, let me go onto describe an alternative. A great alternative would be to install smoking cabins in the designated smoking zone areas. Smoking cabins a cubical structure, equipped with a ventilation system, which provides a vacuum type area, for a smoker to smoke without causing harm to the surrounding environment. This type of structure generally has one sliding door, which separates it from the outside environment and is small, mobile and great solution to get rid of a smoking environment. But this type of sophisticated structure is extremely expensive and would be a huge financial drain on the university resources.

Outdoor Garden Furniture (2011). The Essex 4 Foot Garden Bench. Retrieved from: http://www. Outdoorgardenfurniture.net/theessex4footgardenbench.aspx 5 Trashcontainers (2011). Litter Mate Receptacle Combo. Retrieved from: http://www.trashcontaine rs/products/Cigarette-Disposal-Receptacles/Litter-Mate-Receptacle-Combo.cfm

Engl 106 Smoking Cabin

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Therefore shifting the smoking zone to a new location would be an ideal and economical move for the university. So how should one go about doing this? Purdue Student Government is a great organization that could help address the issue. The members of this committee are organized such so that they form a bridge between the legislative council of university and students, giving the students a voice. Addressing this issue to the dean of students may also be extremely fruitful as its his offices responsibility is to ensure the greatest welfare for the students and this solution would definitely help in that. Other organizations like PUSH (Purdue University Student Healthcare) could help promote the ill-effects of second hand smoking providing a stronger case for this solution and writing to the President of the University directly may help fast track this problem and address it in front of an audience with greater authority. This new smoking zone would be just a little more of a walk for smokers, but would definitely not come in the way of a great number of people and would make walking to class for people like Olivia more pleasurable. This also may be the first step in countering a bigger problem of on-campus smoking6. If this plan succeeds and people are happy we could ask for more secluded smoking zones and removal of smoking zones outside dorm areas (which are primarily occupied by freshman) and if University has sufficient resources, installing smoking cabins.

Purdue University (2010). Purdues New Smoke-Free Policy Effective July 1. Retrieved from: http ://www.purdue.edu/newsroom/email/SmokeFree1.html