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The newest punishment for Austin smokers is geared toward ACC students. The Administrative Service Council (ASC) is scheduled to vote on whether or not to completely ban smoking on ACC campuses. If they vote yes, it would be a complete overreaction to a minor issue that could easily be fixed with less extreme measures.
Cigarette prices have jumped up to over $7.00 a pack, and smokers can't have a cigarette with their drink in bars in Austin, and in the past they just grumbled and quietly shuffled 15 feet away from the door without much protest.
It's not unreasonable to give the students here, who would like to spend their 10 minute break between classes smoking a cigarette, a spot somewhere on campus to indulge.
All they need is one picnic table, one small section of a courtyard, far away from other students. Even one stairwell on each campus that students could go to smoke. Best of all, other students could avoid that area if they wanted.
A ban, besides being a ridiculous pain, causes problems for students who dart around through traffic to go off campus and grab a smoke, and are subsequently late to class.
There have been arguments that non-smokers shouldn't have to walk through a cloud of smoke to get where they are going. They don't.
They could walk around, go a different direction, hold their breath for a second, look a different way when they pass, or realize that they're outside and get over it.
Another problem with a full ban is that it would be hard to enforce. ACC police, who are already understaffed, shouldn't have to spend their time asking people to put out their cigarettes. And asking students to put them out is about all they can do. Campus police can't issue tickets because it's not actually illegal to smoke outside in the City of Austin. Yet.
Designated smoking areas would be a much more effective way to separate smoking students from students who don't want to be around smoke. It would be a true compromise. The added bonus to corralling all the smokers in one place is that the cigarette butts left behind by less courteous smokers would be localized in one area, making them more manageable.
The ASC should vote to create designated smoking areas on campuses that don't have them, and politely ask those in favor of banning smoking to get over it. It's time to focus on more important overreactions to policy issues, like whether or not ACC should ban pictures of the president of the United States on school grounds.
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