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Students, faculty and staff are invited to an open forum to learn more about the university’s proposed smoke-free and tobacco-free policy. Organizers hope to address concerns and solicit feedback from the university community at the event.
By Karen Cochrane
After meeting with several key constituent groups representing students, faculty and staff, university officials are moving forward with an education and communication campaign about the university’s proposed smoke-free and tobacco-free policy. The tentative date of implementation is Jan. 1, 2011, with voluntary implementation beginning July 1, 2010.
A town forum to address concerns and solicit feedback about the proposed policy is scheduled for Tuesday, March 23, from 4 to 5:30 p.m. in the Graham Center Ballroom at Modesto A. Maidique Campus. The event will be webcast live to Biscayne Bay Campus in WUC 155.
“This initiative is about creating a healthier campus environment for all members of the FIU family,” says Dr. Richard Botelho, chair of the Tobacco-free Campus Steering Committee of the Healthy University Task Force and assistant dean of Faculty and Student Development in the Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine. Under the proposed policy, smoking and the use of tobacco products would be prohibited on any FIU campus, including in buildings, athletic facilities and outdoors. Such a policy has already been adopted by hundreds of universities across the United States.
Smokers who would like help making the transition to a smoke-free university will be urged to contact FIU’s Wellness Center, which offers free individual counseling sessions. Additionally, nicotine replacement therapies will be offered for sale at MMC and BBC. A Web site currently in development will list campus and community tobacco dependence/cessation services as well.
“We are aware of the impact this proposed policy will have on some people’s lives,” says Botelho. “We are committed to offering our full support to any member of the university community who wishes to stop smoking or who needs assistance getting through the day without using tobacco.”
The university will implement the tobacco-free and smoke-free policy through education and social engagement. Your support is greatly appreciated.
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Just a thought — I know quitting smoking is the healthiest of options — but 1. not everyone wants to quit. 2. Forcing withdrawl symptoms upon smokers who are stuck on campus for hours and hours upon end — does not make for a healthy person. In fact — the withdrawl can sometimes be more detrimental then the smoking.
This is dumb. It is a public university, NOT a high school…This isn't going to make people stop smoking, it's just going to make them find places to sneak a cigarette around campus. We are young adults, not immature teenagers.
This is a great policy. Other organizations in the area (Baptist Health, South Miami Hospital, etc.) have successfully implemented this policy, and I would be willing to bet there is research backing a reduction in costs from several angles once the policy is implemented.
Policy is great for hospitals (where there are sick people seeking a healthy environment to heal) but I agree that this isn't a high school. We are adults who are mature enough to make our own decisions. I think smoking areas would benefit both smokers and non smokers without dumping possibly hundreds of individuals into withdrawal or treating students and faculty alike like "immature teenagers." This reminds me of when they stared inprisoning high school students with fences & deindividualizing children with uniforms. Smoker or not, I don't think adults who work hard or students who pay hard should be mandated to quit smoking for hours at a public university. Why does everyone think all or nothing is the best solution?
I have the right to smoke on campus, moreover, I think there are more important issues to care of, for instance, we need professors with more quality, we don't need dinosaurs talking during 2 hours and 45 minutes about their banking or accounting experience. I weep for the future.
yeah, withdrawal has been linked to cancer, emphysema, heart disease, discolored teeth and general stank… no, wait that is smoking. although nicotine is chemically addictive it lacks the dangerous withdrawal symptoms found with substances like alcohol and opiates. this explains why alcohol or opiate cessation requires detox where nicotine cessation does not.
as responsible adults of varying ages, FIU students should embrace a policy that leads to cleaner, more healthful air for all, as well as reduced litter.
it is unfortunate that such a policy must be enforced, rather than adopted openly on a person to person basis founded in accountability, but sometimes while poisoning oneself a person forgets that others prefer not to inhale foul smelling toxins.
Bravo! They should be spending their time (and ours) holding meetings about the efficiency of our professors. I will say that the level has improved now that I am in grad school but still there are professors who couldn't care less & allow their personal affairs to affect how they teach us. I know MANY students who have complained about the same teachers and yet they are still there year after year providing crappy education to students who pay (and presumably want) to learn. Why aren't our reviews being taken seriously? Yet, they think a nonsmoking campus is the answer to improvement needs? I don't see the correlation.
How long are you people spending on campus, anyway, that you think withdrawal symptoms will afflict you? What do you do on planes?
FIU may be a public university, but it's also a public place. Yeah, banning smoking may a quite cut and dry thing to do and obviously not what smokers would prefer, but at the end of the day it is the healthier option for non-smokers and for smokers.
Some of you don't want to be treated like teenagers – because you're "adults" or "young adults." No one's treating you that way – you are choosing to feel like that, just like you are choosing to smoke. I sneak a ciggie here, a ciggie there, and I'm no teenager – and I know smoking is a silly thing to do. It's a pretty lame and stupid thing to do, which teens are wont to do. But that's the way the cookie crumbles and like on planes, people will have to do. Again, at the end of the day, your lungs and my lungs will be most grateful.
Not to mention, the campus will be cleaner. I'm so over seeing people flick their cigarette butts around or stepping on them.
Smokers do NOT have the "right" to smoke wherever and whenever they like! Where in the Constitution is it written that smoking is a proctected class? Good for the University! I wish the entire nation would ban cigarettes from sale and consumption. 5,000,000 deaths worldwide each year linked to smoking. Health related issues? When a smoker claims he has the "right" to smoke, then pay for your own stupid healthcare related expenses — lung cancer, emphysema, etc. — caused by your disgustsing smoking habit. If the non-smokers, which are 80% of the nation, are picking up increased insurance premiums to pay for the 500,000 deaths in America alone each year, than you, the smoker, have NO rights to smoke in my book.
And EVERY single smoker who wants to claim after my post, "I never put out my smokes on the ground and I always pick them up when I'm finished,—READ this— [edited]! You along with ALL smokers have polluted beaches, oceans, and streets the ENTIRE time you have smoked!
Again, I hope the University has the [fortitude] to go along with this policy AND ENFORCE IT!
I can understand FIU's new smoke free policy. I am a smoker and when I first heard the news I admit I was disappointed that I couldn't take a cigarette break to ease my mind during a cram session. But then I thought of my peers and how if I were among the nonsmoker population I would also want my perspective considered. After all, smoking isn't good for us. Withdrawl symptoms will never outweigh the consequences of tobacco use.
My biggest complaint would have to be the lack of designated smoking areas. Come on guys! We consider ourselves an educated community of people. Even malls have smoking areas. If we can have Chili's on MMC campus with two for one happy hour all day then I think a small collection of benches and ashtrays isn't unreasonable.
[edited],LET THE PEOPLE DO WHAT THEY WANT WHEN THEY WANT…this country has to stop imposing laws and rules on things that bring pleasure to peoples lives.
I applaud the policy and hope it will become a reality. Its hard to find somewhere on campus to sit and enjoy the outdoors, as the smokers are everywhere. I have to stay inside a building to avoid smoke fumes. Must I keep moving when the smokers appear, claiming their right to smoke?
I am pretty sure that Jeff's stepfather must be a heartless smoker!!!!
Enrique, I don't have a stepfather—my folks are still married after 50 years of marriage!
Jdogg — you call yourself college educated? READ my post!
You do NOT have the right to do what you want when you want. Where are my rights to breathe polluted smog-filled air that does NOT include cigarette smoke? ALL smokers are alike — READ my post — ever empty your cigarettes from the tray at a stoplight from your car? I've seen it done countless times. You'll tell everyone on this post that you've never done it. Next time you're swimming in the ocean, I want you to open your mouth wide as I come along and fill it with all the cigarette butts stuffed into the sand on the beach — "I can do whatever I want, whenever I want, right?"
I HATE SMOKERS! Their ignornance and lack of caring about anyone but themselves —- just read the smoker's posts—all about them and they're nasty habit— is disgusting.
READ my post on the health costs. You want to smoke? Smoke at home and in your car all you'd like, unless you have children in those spaces. PAY FOR YOUR OWN HEALTHCARE costs when you get emphysema — it's not "will you get it/it's when!" Pay for your own sick time when your hack fills with green bacteria from bronchyitis 20 times more than someone else who doesn't. PAY for your own doctor bills when you have a heart attack caused from cigarettes.
4000 known cancer causing agents in one cigarette! Who ordered arsenic the last time at the bar? Who ate rat poison the last time at dinner? ALL of these and more are in your lousy disgusting second-hand smoke that I and 80% of the non-smokers do not want to ingest every single time you decide to "excercise your right" to do whatever you want/whenever you want.
NON-SMOKERS UNITE! We have the votes— push to outlaw this filthy habit everywhere! Support the legislators that tell JDogg he can't stick cancer into my nostrils whenever and wherever he likes!
Moderator—have the guts to put my post completely up without feeling you've "offended" someone. I didn't cuss on my last post, nor is their any in this one.
Thanks for reading everyone.
We're an institution of higher learning. It's not about offending anyone; it's about inappropriate language. We should be able to engage in thoughtful discourse without resorting to coarse language. Simple as that.
IT’S “NANNY NONSENSE” LIKE THIS THAT MAKES ME ECSTATIC THAT I GRADUATED FROM FIU 37 TEARS AGO. ERGO, I WON’T HAVE TO EITHER TOLERATE THIS “NEW AGE,” ANTI-SMOKER BIGOTRY, OR TRANSFER TO A MORE SOCIALLY BENEVOLENT INSTITUTION OF HIGHER EDUCATION. NOT EVEN DESIGNATED SMOKING AREAS TO BE AUTHORIZED IN A TAX-PAYER FUNDED UNIVERSITY—THAT’S UNFAIR TO TAX PAYING SMOKERS, TO SAY THE LEAST !! SINCE I ENJOY A GOOD CIGAR IN MY OLD AGE. I’LL DEFINITELY AVOID VISITING MY ALMA MATER, IF THIS HIGH-HANDED, “BEHAVIORAL UNIFORMITY” TRAVESTY IS ADOPTED. GO PANTHERS !!!
Sneak a ciggie? How old are we that we can't get our point across without petty insults? Or the stepfather comment? We are all educated adults and yet that doesn't stop many of us from getting drunk with our buddies and driving. That which kills many more people than smoking and is facilitated by the bar right on campus. I'm ALL for cleaner schools and designated smoking areas. Some people are just slobs whether it be with cigarette butts, cans, paper, etc & should have more pride in keeping this place clean. There's plenty of spread out space on campus to accommodate smokers and non. This isn't only for the students (some that I hope are out of their mommy and daddys houses and not having to "sneak a ciggie") but also faculty who might have to spend entire workdays there. I'm done after this post but as important as some balance in this issue is, there are soooo many other issues we should also be dealing with to help improve the safety and quality of our education and life.
So, yeah….about those 2-4-1s at Chili's….does that include mixed drinks?
Look at the smoker's responses — PROVES my point with them — "all about them and their needs." NOT ONE could lay down a single argument or comment on mine about them paying for their own healthcare. Brian said, "unfair to the taxpayer." Brian, that's calling the kettle black isn't it? You want to smoke cigars and get lip, mouth, or throat cancer, go ahead — don't "waste the taxpayer's or other healthy individual's in your health insurance plan's money. You get sick with voluntary behavior like smoking that is a choice, you deserve to pay for the consequences. It costs well over $500k to "take care of smoker's" healthcare-wise until it finally kills them. Where's the orignial Marlboro Man smokers? DEAD from the habit!
In Florida and around the country hundreds of thousands of people are receiving taxpayer paid money (Brian, from 80% of the population that are non-smokers) for their oxygen tanks, doctor visits, heart attack surgeries, etc. all caused by their right to smoke. Along with most people in America what people want is to do whatever and whenever they want as long as it pleases them! What about the rights of non-smokers that don't want to smell your freshly lit cigar or cigarette the moment you get outside a public door? You stand right in front of doorways where the ashtrays are stored and make us all smell that cancer stick. You who comment on here defending smokers don't do that and are the most courteous and polite smokers around, right?
To Racquel, only (I know if it's someone you know, it hurts) 40,000 people die annually in car accidents in America. Not all by drunks at bars or DUI repeat offendeers (don't bother accusing me of one, I've never had one). 500,000 people EACH year die in America — over 10 times as many — related to smoking.
When someone invents a self-inhaling gas mask in which no smoke is omitted and the cigarette is bio-degradable with no butts floating in the ocean or canals or on streets, I say smoke 10 at once, as long as, like Brian said, "no taxpayer money" is wasted.
If a smoker disputes my facts or comments again, because I see no argument in favor of the smoker that stands, it shows their self-consumption of only their right to blow smoke wherever and whenever they choose.
I'm old enough to remember sitting in the "non-smoking" section on an airplane — every single time I flew they put me in the row right in front of the smoker. 5 hour flight of pure misery as the smoker and his/her "right to smoke" behind me enjoyed every puff lighting up every 30 minutes. And with the recirculated air inside the cabin, do you think everyone else on the plane could smell the smoke? You bet, but the smoker ALWAYS says, "What's wrong? I don't smell it." Yeah, you don't! You burned all your capillaries inside your nostrils long ago and just don't realize how foul that smell is to non-smokers.
Thanks for reading this far.
For the most part, I am a non-smoker. It kills me to walk through outdoor corridors filled with smokers who just blow the stuff right into your face, looking smug. Cigarette smoke really *hurts* my nose, ears and eyes, but I can't avoid it because people will smoke anywhere, even while they're walking! It's horrible getting stuck walking behind smokers on the way to class, and you can't get around them. And second-hand smoke is so much worse than first-hand smoke…
However, it breaks my heart that I won't have the privilege to smoke an occasional cigar or cigarillo, even in a secluded area, while I spend another year or two living on campus.
Does anyone think this will actually be enforced?
Can one smoker offer an agrument why YOUR right to smoke supercedes my (don't be cute or sarcastic with the response) right as a non-smoker to not smell that nasty habit?
I am NOT a liberal that is in love with government regulation. I've been an entrepreneur my whole life. I don't like the interference or rules regulating our every move either. But this one, getting smoking off the campus, is a good rule. Why? Why don't smoker's fund and build their own school. Fund their own healthcare expenses related to smoking. (Have to say I love all the "young" people, me defining it at ages 13-45, who smoke and haven't "used" the medical services yet — go to any hospital and go to the smoking ward and talk to any smoker getting medical treatment that's over 45 — see if they're spending someone's money now!)
Again, I reiterate, that 80% of the US adult population don't smoke — we supposedly live in a democracy where the majority rule — 20% smoke — why do we waste time in the country ALWAYS trying to please the minority?
Thanks for reading.
It is a wonder why some smokers simply do not quit?
After reading Jeff's post, I think some will actually take up the habit.
[Heck], I wouldn't quit if I run the risk of becoming someone with that kind of attitude.
The risk of cancer sounds more appealing next to this twat.
my only problem with this idea is taking away smokers' ability to smoke in their own vehicles – you're in a car! you're not affecting anyone, unless you have others in it! that is just stupid regulation and could give the smokers the ability to get their nic fix without TOTALLY LEAVING campus.
Compromise – have some designated smoking zones.
Health ? If FIU is really serious about health, BAN PEPSI, COKE, BURGER KING, POLLO TROPICAL and most of the other eating joints on campus – laden with high fructose corn syrup, pesticides, grease, cholestrol, the works. Why is it that, barring a few sandwiches at subway, there is NO HEALTHY eating on a university campus ? Its sickening to watch young kids scarf down cancer causing poison in the name of food, so why do you single out smokers ? Banning something is an idiotic, self righteous, high handed action.
DC, "Typical response from 20-year-olds of today." Attack the person and my "bad attitude" instead of offering ONE argument on smoker's littering of their butts—that's okay, right? "Someone else will pick them up, right?" I think the smoker lovers on this post should re-think taking a class in Debate so they can learn to offer sound arguments to support their ideas on why smoker's rights are more important than mine as a non-smoker. I'm still waiting for one sound argument out of this post.
Healthcare costs of treating smoking related diseases: lung cancer, emphysema, COPD, etc. DC, you want the bill for covering just one of these smoker's "right to smoke?" We'll just let the policy now stand and send you the bill every single time — 500,000 of them in the USA EVERY SINGLE YEAR.
I agree with anyone on "less government, etc." However, smoker's litter with their habit, they cause more expense for the 80% of the rest of us that don't smoke treating their illness later in life, they blow the smoke in people's faces, and all anyone does on this forum is attack me as an individual. Smokers are NOT a protected class under the Constitution and I'm sick of them thinking they are!
Great policy FIU and I will continue to defend non-smoker's rights to breathe polluted, less cigarette and cigar smoke, air!
Thanks for reading.
other problem – and i'm not a smoker – is the lack of a smoking-designated area in this policy. all public places that ban smoking have a smoking area because, they are PUBLIC, and cater to the PUBLIC, smoker or not…. and plus, a smoking area is somewhat of a promoter of tobacco cessation as most people don't like the stigma of being seen in one! one has to accept the fact that people are going to smoke, regardless of policy. prohibiting human actions never works, and i dont even need to list examples in the history, if you have half a working mind you'll see this.
The bigotry of Jeff’s posts here are simply astounding, especially as they are posted on a forum hosted by an institution of higher learning. To make such fallacious generalizations and claim to hate a whole group of people because of “X” (insert whatever you desire in place of X) is discriminatory and bigoted. Just because that group happens to be “smokers” makes it no less offensive and morally unjust than if the group were Catholics or African Americans, etc.
Personally, I think that smokers should be accommodated with a smoking area outside; if the objection to smoking is that non-smokers have to smell it, then designated areas could be offset from classrooms and main walkways or sitting areas. That should successfully address both smokers’ and non-smokers’ needs.
But if the school has become so health conscious that it feels the need to ban smoking for the health and well-being of all who work and attend the school, then why stop with smoking? After all, “This initiative is about creating a healthier campus environment for all members of the FIU family.” Focusing only on smoking seems hypocritical and discriminatory if the goal is to create a more health-conscious school. If that is truly the goal, then why not be equal and fair-minded about the health-conscious application?
Why not remove fast food establishments and vending machines from the school (as they have in many other institutions) so that we do not contribute to obesity? Why not ban sodas and coffee—or at least all caffeinated products—from the school grounds? In addition, why not ban alcohol products, including at events hosted by and for the faculty and administration? After all, why stop at tobacco products if the goal is to create a more health-oriented environment rather than to discriminate against tobacco? And while we are at it, why not provide health insurance benefits to all FIU employees, i.e., part-time staff and adjunct faculty? Adopting all of these measures would demonstrate that FIU firmly supports its objectives of creating a healthier environment for those employed by and attending the university.
Then again, we could simply designate a smoking area for smokers and keep everything else the way it is, which would probably be less offensive for the majority—and less costly for the school. But if FIU is determined to ban smoking on the premise of the health of all, then we should show no hypocritical discrimination toward tobacco, in particular, but, instead, adopt a comprehensive health policy across the board at FIU: ban all caffeine, alcohol, and fast foods; and provide health care benefits for all employees! Make it fair and make it about health if that is the true premise of the argument … not about tobacco under the guise of “health”!
Amartya – We pick on smoker's because we know there isn't a person smoking that will not get emphysema or some other disease. I know, the smoking companies have spent a fortune lobbying Congress to de-emphasize their warning labels. I can drink a case of soda a day, and still not develop diabetes as along as I work out and burn off all those calories and all the other "bad things" you tried to compare smoking to.
Smoking is the #1 PREVENTABLE disease on the planet. Diabetes or the host of others some might add after my post are not guarantees to one's health just by consuming the product.
Smoking cigarettes and cigars are the ONLY products in America, and the world, that if you use them correctly — just like the manufacturer wants you to, you WILL DIE from the product someday. They basically murder their customers long term and you got to love America — they get away with it! 500,000 deaths last year and every year. That's the size city of the entire population of Sacramento, CA!
And for those that will post, "My Grandmother's been smoking 4 packs a day every day for 80 years, etc." — spare me the post — for every one of her, there are 10,000 that don't have her gene pool.
Why is it that when the word "public" is brougtht up, no one thinks the rights of non-smokers mean anything? That's what's wrong with today's youth — raised on media that has always showed 2 people debating, etc. and "evening-out" the argument. This programming has led to 51/49 votes almost constantly the last 20 years on every single major issue including abortion, gay marriage, or any other "hot" button today.
There is no argument that has been offered by smokers, or those here defending their habit, that it's okay to litter with their butts. I'll drop the health issue for the moment. How many smoker's smoke, then put out their cigarette, then properly dispose of it with THEIR OWN FINGERS into the trash? I've NEVER seen one smoker EVER pick up their butt they put out with their feet.
I love all the smokers that claim to be "green." They go to all the rallies, recycle, etc. and they're the cause of the single #1 pollutant on California and Florida beaches!
I know — I've posted the most on this subject. Why? I hate this habit! What I despise more is everyone defending this habit like I'm or FIU is picking on smoker's like we're picking on someone handicapped.
This flame needs not only to go out at FIU on this habit, but America alone. Again, only product that's sold that followed correctly, EVERY single person that uses it long term, gets a disease. I don't want this disease! It's not the smoker's right to give me cancer or smelly clothes or any other related horrible thing associated with smoking.
Thanks for reading.
I Amado Gonzalez support a smoke-free and tobacco-free university.
I am in favor of this new policy. Please count my vote for a smoke-free tabacco-free campus.
Kim – your comments are outstanding! You're probably a smoker, huh? Can you or ANYONE reasonably attach logic from one thought to another for comparison? You bring up Catholics (religion) and African Americans (a race) and compare them to a human habit? If I were one of these groups, I'd be blasting you on your lack of reasonable debate.
Smoking, for ALL YOU SMOKERS, is NOT, and I repeat, NOT a PROTECTED class of people or group under the U.S. Constitution. Only a smoker rationalizes their habit like this! My Dad smoked for over 27 years — TRUST ME — I've heard every single one of these ridculous comparisions over my entire adult life. You know what? He quit about 10 years ago — did the patch/hynosis thing, and quit. Ask him, now that his nostrils have cleared how much he thinks smoker's are such polite individuals as you, Kim, and other smokers on this post think you are.
NOT ONE OF YOU SMOKERS has addressed my issue of cleanliness of the campus from your filthy habit. You all go out and march for tuition decreses and the like, and remember there are several custodians on the campus pulling cigarettes out of urinals, bushes, and clogging up the motors inside the pond fountains. These motors have to be replaced and cost money, which in turn gets past onto students.
C'mon, Kim, and other smokers defend part of your tuition hikes for the cost associated with cleaning and fixing broken things that smokers cause. Go ahead, after this comment, again, say I'm ridiculous and that pump motors have NEVER been replaced or there hasn't been a sea gull or any other wildlife that has injested a cigaretted butt. Even most sea gulls spit these out.
I didn't put down any one on this post — just stating the death facts and others on smokers. Kim you prove my point that you've spent too much time with the social media today. No one calling you out on your illogical comparisons. I stated that I can eat potato chips and sodas all day long — I've drank a Coke, not diet, every day of my adult life. I'm not over-weight, nor have diabetes. Can you as a smoker tell me, that long term —- 25 years or more of the habit — you won't cost me and other non-smoking taxypayers for clean up grounds or health care treating your disease?
Thanks for reading.
Jeff, most bigots attempt to justify their bigotry—though this is the first time I've heard someone try to justify prejudice as being acceptable as long as it is against a group of people who are “NOT a PROTECTED class of people or group under the U.S. Constitution.” That is an interesting distinction. So by your definition, it is then acceptable to hate and disparage all red-heads or brunettes, or all obese or skinny individuals, or people who consume Coca-Cola or alcohol, and I could go on ad infinitum. It is, according to your logic, only bigoted, prejudicial and discriminatory when we disparage and target those groups or people who enjoy the protection of the U.S. Constitution. And you are the one claiming that everyone else’s arguments on this forum are faulty? Hmmm.
In my opinion, to attack, to make hasty generalizations about, and to claim to hate any group (whether that group is protected by the Constitution or not) is prejudicial and bigoted. If one doesn’t like the action of the group (i.e., smoking), that is one thing. But to claim that all smokers do X (e.g., empty their ashtrays at red lights, etc.) is a logical fallacy (look it up). Also, to claim that you hate the collective group of people (i.e., all smokers) is excessive, objectionable, and offensive. More than that, it is prejudicial and bigoted—and something I was surprised to see on an FIU forum. If you cannot see the prejudicial nature of such a comment, then I seriously hope that you are not bringing these ideas into the classroom—for all of our sakes! To be honest, your rabid prejudice against smokers is of more concern to me than the issue of smoking on campus!
Kim and FIU fan – Again, you spend your time going over the bigotry issue. Do you smoke? I'd say you do. You'll probably come back on after reading my post and say you don't. According to you, and the tone in which you say it, ALL smoker's are polite, courteous, etc. You never respond to the broken electrical motors caused by gummed up fans caused by smoker's butts. Not yours or all those "polite smokers," right?"
FIU Fan — I'm scary? That's what's wrong with people today. You're so used to hearing everybody tell everyone that ANY behavior is okay you've lost sight on what's right and wrong.
Opinions about me as a bigot don't bother me. The "Protected Class" was only offered because smokers like you, Kim, think you have some special rights that should be protected just like Title VII ones.
Hating smokers is MY RIGHT! I haven't found one ever in my life to not be self-absorbed. I've found them to litter EVERY single day. According to you, Kim, you've never seen it. It doesn't happen because you've never seen it.
Where is my right, along with 80% of the non-smokers to look at concrete or asphalt that doesn't have cigarette butts smashed all over? You keep bringing up comparisons of Coke and alcohol, etc. You remind me of all the thousands of nonsensical arguments I've had with smokers who don't care about continuing to smoke.
You haven't offered one argument in support of paying for your own healthcare expenses related to smoking when you get older.
You haven't offered one reasonable argument on why it's okay for smoker's to litter. Why is it okay?
FIU personnel shouldn't be hired to spend more tuition money just to clean up this littering of discarded cigarette butts. What's your opinion on this?
No, you spend your analysis, along with FIU Fan "worried" about my not "supporting all human beings and their rights to do whatever, and whenever they like." You are lucky I'm "not in charge." I would outlaw smoking period. Yep, you'd have to illegally find ways to buy the product. Nope, I won't get elected with this attitude, nor am I seeking political office.
FIU Fan — "damaging to my cause." I'll NEVER win the argument with smokers! They only care about their addiction. Some claim they "just can't quit." YES YOU CAN! I don't have a cause. I just hate smelling smoke from cigarettes so bad that I don't feel, like you'd like me to, just "tolerate it — or move down wind," etc. WHY SHOULD I?
Kim, and the others — tell me you're going to volunteer your time this weekend and we can give FIU Custodians the day off (saving students money) and you're going to pick up all those "non-existent" cigarette butts all over campus.
Thanks for reading.
Eloquently said, Kim. Zealots like Jeff will never understand why they are more damaging to their cause than helpful. I find people like him truly frightening.
Jeff, I applaud your obsession. Perhaps you might want to try a cigarette to relax.
I agree with Jeff. Smoking is a disgusting habit for weak willed people (if you can call them that). Its smells bad and causes pollution with all the smoke and litter. And I hate anyone who would damage themselves in such a manner. If it were up to me I would quarantine all of them. I don't think they have a right to harm my health by their despicable weakness. These are not people. If they want to kill themselves they might as well do it quickly and save me the grief of having to deal with those ignorant lowlifes. And you people who rag on Jeff, you all might as well be just like those smokers… and get out of my school. I'm with you Jeff all the way. In fact we should get to together and form a group who can patrol the campus with water pistols and spray everyone we catch smoking. Its about time we start a new order here at FIU!!!
FIU Smoker – I appreciate your honesty, labeling your ID as a smoker. I'll pass on your relaxing technique (By the way, the nicotine hit stimulates your heart rate, not relaxes it) so enjoy your formaldehyde (they embalm dead people with this chemical) on your next puff. You and other smokers are doing a good job "lubing up" the carcass getting it ready for the funeral home workers. I read on a sports blog last night where a guy said, "I just lit my cigarette and it tasted like rubbing alcohol." I didn't have the heart to tell him that it was one of the ingredients inside his cancer stick.
FIU Smoker – A hypocrite I am not. I like your honesty. All we ask as non-smokers is to smoke downwind, pay for your own healthcare costs short and long term related to smoking, and when you're done with your puff, smash it out on the ground, then pick it up with your nice yellow stained fingers, and put it in your pocket to throw it away. And for the lady smokers, you can disgard it inside your $400 Prada handbag for later discarding. Don't just fling it out the window on the highway so it can start a brush or forest fire. Oh, wait a minute, Kim and FIU Fan insinuated that none of these events take place with smokers!
Thanks for reading and seize the day!
The whole thing is ridiculous! You can't smoke in your car? Who is being impositioned by someone smoking alone in their own vehicle?
And what's next? Are these nuts going to ban cars and trucks that spew polution? How about perfume and hairspray? These things are certainly more dangerous and annoying than cigarette smokers.
Maybe some of the smoking students will get together and file suit though. As a publicly funded school, FIU should be forced to accomodate ALL students.
The better solution would be to set up smoking areas outdoors and ban smoking outside of those areas. It works for the airport.
As a consumer and a smoker, I choose to spend my money at places that accomodate smokers. If FIU wants to ban it, that is okay, I will just go to another school. I only need one class to graduate anyway. I was considering a graduate program for the Fall term, but I will look elsewhere now. Thank you for the warning.
Hi, Carla:
We'll be posting a new article soon — the proposed policy has been revised. People can still smoke in their cars while on our campuses if they choose.
What can we do respectfully to stop the non-smoking policy. If it cannot be stopped, then we are not collectively making a decision. This policy is wrong, and will cause many problems- perhaps greater ones- in the future.
Carla – you obviously haven't read any of my posts. Enjoy going to your "smoker school." The threat of losing your tuition does not make up for the cost of your long term healthcare, urinal cleanings, replaced pump motors, and salaries for cleaning up after smokers. Good luck on your graduate studies.
Again, Carla, PROVES that all the smokers care about is their addictive habit! Not ONE argument on my ideas or others — just a typical smoker's attitude, "Hey, I need my puff, and gosh-darn it, I want it NOW! And no, Carla, perfume smells better than your lit Formaldehyde/rat poison. And, for me, I'd rather put my head next to a smoking car exhaust and inhale deeply before I'd smell your rubbing alcohol/tar stick!
Thanks for reading.
What is going on?! When are you all going to wake up and realize that Jeff is right on target here. Finally someone has the guts to speak candidly about this touchy subject. I mean hello! he is doing you all a favor. You ought to be glad someone cares about your health. Look, I don't mean this as a threat, but I will not stand for people smoking in public areas. It may sound quite extreme, but if you blow smoke in my direction you better spit out that cigarette out and duck because I will come swinging. I didn't spend five years in the Marines to have my health threatened slackers who sit around all day willfully inhaling toxins. Jeff, my hat is off to you!
Hi to all FIU people. I writes to say nothing bad can be found of smoking or cigarettes (cigars too). Me and my 3 childrens graduate at fiu and smoking never stopped us from studying one bit. they're many other terible habits out there for youngsters to find. If done the right way smoking can be a great past time. Sometimes better than eating ice cream, minus the colesteral. those who forgot the thril of small things on earth will be shure to listen.
Bryan – there will be NO problems as you mention. There are many schools around the country that have already adopted this policy. No, they did not shut down. No, they did not have to pick up those stinking littering butts. Yes, they let the smoker smoke in their car, which will be part of this policy.
Now, Bryan, are you and other smokers, when you're required to smoke in your car, going to toss the cigarette butt out your window when finished? Will you put it in your ashtray for disposal once the tray is full, or will you, like many smokers who deny they've done it, stop at the stoplight and dump the entire ashtray out on the street or on FIU's parking lot because your MAD?
As for the lawsuits that Carla and other smokers threaten, remember, you're NOT a protected class. Here, Kim, this is why I mentioned the "protetctive class," and you labeled me a bigot. Just because the 20% of you smokers think, "Hey, this is a publicly funded school — I can't smoke — I'm suing," remember 80% of us taxpayers that don't smoke fund the place too. And, yes, we get to eat 80% of paying for your home healthcare later in life because you chose to smoke and to some second-hand smoke victims.
I love all the smokers who PROVE my point about only caring about themselves! They're completely obsessed with their habit, as much as I am to rid myself and the world of smelling those nauseous fumes.
Please, smokers, no more, "What about us?" attitude! What about us non-smokers that have been putting up and paying right along with you for that disgusting, non-healthy habit.
The school, like others around the country that have already implemented this policy, will do just fine with it. And, yes, smokers will continue to sneak a ciggie around the campus in bathrooms, bushes, etc., and yes, will continue to discard their un-biodegradable butts all over campus!
Thanks for reading.
Jeff: Thank you for taking the time to explain to non-smokers the health hazard not only to themselves but to others. I cannot inhale any of this smoke and it's nasty, especially when someone blows it out right into your face while walking. I support the ban of cigarette-smoking on campus. Even if there are designated areas; won't the smoke float through the air? Smoke at your own risk. You go Jeff.
Maria C — Are you sure you don't have LSD attached to your cigarettes? Hey, smokers who put me down — read her post! Again, just reiterates my proof of how smokers, most of them, are self-absorbed like Maria C. "Good past time to smoke?" Even most smokers would NOT agree with this lunatic!
Smokers that have children, usually produce other smokers because when their children start "trying to be cool" in high school, they just do what they've seen at home, and since the parent's nostrils are shot, the kid picks up the habit.
"Nothing bad come of Maria's smoking?" Hey, Maria, and other smokers, why not tomorrow you go down to your local hospital and check out all that "nothing" on the smoker's ward? I know it won't change Maria's opinions because she's determined smoking is better than ice cream, but Maria, if you'll tell me and the rest of non-smokers that you will PAY for your treatment that you see at the hospital, then have three "scoops of ice cream." What a ditz!
Thanks for reading.
Forgot — thought of something else for a rebuttal.
Hey, Kim and FIU Fan, if you're still reading, what did you think of Maria C's post? Just like you tried to point out to the world that "people like him just don't know how damaging they are to their cause."
What did you think of Maria C's ideas to help support the "pro-smoking" movement?
JUST ADMIT IT SMOKERS! You're so addictive to that piece of ____ that you don't care about anyone, including yourselves, to serve the addiction.
I'm still in shock over Maria C's comparision of ice cream to cigarettes.
Thanks for reading.
Jeff — You have waaaay too much time on your hands. So many posts. Since you've asked, however, I'll tell you what I think of Maria C's post: I think it's sad. She's clearly deluded. There's really not much else to say. But here's the distinct difference between Maria C. and you — Maria doesn't hate anybody because they don't agree with her. Your hatred of smokers, as you so proudly related in a previous post, is what makes you so scary. You're not scary because you're in favor of the tobacco ban; it could be eating strawberries for all I care. It's your overwrought reaction to the individuals who engage in a habit you disapprove of that bothers me. And you keep on harping about the high costs of health care that us non-smokers are being saddled with. So do you hate obese people, too? What about alcoholics? The health problems that can be traced back to their addictions (one to food and one to alcohol) are no less expensive to treat than the health costs associated with smoking. Like I said, I find zealots like you scary. But I don't hate you.
FIU Fan — you say I have too much time to write, but you have enough time to read. When it comes to smoking bans, I spend as much of my free time as I can to voice my opinion. No, I don't hate obese people. It's your comparisions of illogical thought that drive me nuts. Let me make it clear to ALL smokers — I don't hate people that "disagree" with me. Smoking is one of the worst smells I can think of. I'd rather smell the sewer unfiltered than smell one ounce of a smoker's puff!
Healthcare for obesity — please, FIU Fan and other smokers, don't compare yourself to the psychological and physical issues of alcoholics, obesity, or other types of groups. Your habit of smoking is COMPLETELY correctable. Yes, people that eat the wrong kinds of foods or drink excessively could stop their addictive habit also, but these people typically have more deep-rooted psychological issues that propel them into these types of behaviors.
Smoking — it's the nicotine you are addicted to. If you desired, you can do the hypnosis/patch/gum/cold turkey, etc. if you want to quit. Why don't most smokers that want to quit stop? Because it's just like drugs and alcohol. If you seek these items, the quickest way to become addicted to these things is to hang out with people that do them. Most smokers that try and quit, still hang out with their smoking friends, go outside where "all the good conversations are anyway, right?" the smokers are and pick the habit back up.
If I took you FIU Fan and other smokers to a remote island where cigarettes were not available, and you couldn't get off the island (don't worry, I won't be on the island with you), and you couldn't smoke, guess what? You'll stop smoking. But in America you can bum a cigarette off a friend, go down to just about any store and buy them, making it much easier for you to continue to smoke.
It's not "if" you'll get emphysema — it's WHEN! Most smoker's die of a heart attack or lung cancer many times before they get the Big Em!
So, again, I did not attack "those that disagree with me," — JUST SMOKERS! Why? Because being required to smell your stinky cancer stick is not fair for me! Spare me all the "politeness" you've shown non-smokers in your day.
Have you picked up EVERY SINGLE butt you smashed on the ground? Spare me your "holier-than-thou" rhetoric — You haven't!
So, right there, swimming in the ocean and having one of these "floating by," — well, I hate that!
Have you, FIU Fan, EVER flicked your cigarette out lit on the road? Maybe you haven't, but many have started fires with it.
Have you ever went to bed with a lit cigarette in the ashtray near your bed and started an apartment fire — not killing yourself, but killing others? Some smoker has! As a non-smoker, I can 100% say I've NEVER DONE THIS!
FIU Fan and others, quit comparing smoking to diabetes, obesity, hated groups of people, etc. LIVE WITH THE FACT that we as non-smokers HATE your habit so bad, that the day is coming that it will be outlawed in this country! This is my obession and won't stop until I'm in the grave.
If you'd like to get rid of me earlier and put in the grave so I can say anything on this post or others, just give me a pack of your cigarettes so I can begin my early death!
Thanks for reading.
Smokers, just take this whole thing in a positive way – it will make your lives and others healthier and longer. Guess what, you would save some money for not smoking so much.
Jeff — You won't hear from me again. Your rhetoric now bores me. Before I leave in search of more fulfilling dialogue, however, I wanted to clue you in to the fact that I'm not a smoker. Never have been. Believe it or not, I don't oppose the ban; after all, I'm a non-smoker. But I don't have any use for people like you who literally state — in writing — I HATE SMOKERS. Look it up. It was in one of your first posts. For the last time, people like you are scary. You're filled with hate and can't see past your own bigotry. I wonder how that's worked out for you in your life? Good luck to you. Peace out.
FIU fan—well said and I agree wholeheartedly.
Jeff—I find that you suffer from fallacious logic in your arguments/assumptions and from reading comprehension difficulties, specifically in what you have inferred from what I have said. However, unlike you, I haven't felt compelled to address your numerous (often times erroneous) messages, nor do I suffer from a need to get in the last word. I leave that to you.
I didn't realize there was a "pro-smoking movement." If there were such a movement, I would discourage it because it's a good idea not to start smoking in the first place, in my opinion. However, if you were being sarcastic and referring to smokers standing up for what they consider their "right" or "ability" to smoke "outside" on campus grounds, then that's a different matter. I think there should be a compromise, with smokers allowed to smoke in designated smoking areas removed from primary walkways; considering it's outdoors, this shouldn't be difficult and should satisfy the needs/desires of smokers and non-smokers alike.
I find it ironic that the one who claims that smokers are so selfish and egoistic is the one who sees only his own viewpoint (and attempts to make sure that everyone else here sees it ad nauseum). Sounds kind of selfish and egoistic, doesn't it, when there is a huge outdoors at FIU and you and a select few others cannot find compromise in designating a smoking area for smokers somewhere out there? Don't worry, that was rhetorical as I already know your answer. It does beg the question, though, who is so selfish and egoistic. But what can one expect from an individual who claims to hate people who smoke? The sad thing is that you hate me (yes, I smoke), yet you don't even know me. That's an awful emotion—made even worse when it’s directed toward someone who has done you no harm.
Pixie—I appreciate your politeness. I just want to clarify that if FIU imposes a ban on smoking on the premises, that doesn’t mean that people will quit smoking. It simply means that many smokers will quit smoking on campus; some will not: some will go to their cars if they are allowed to smoke in their vehicles, and there are a small few who will probably ignore the ban altogether (as with any type of ban). However, smokers will quit smoking when they decide to quit smoking and that might be when the ban goes into effect or it might not. If/when I do quit smoking, it will be because I have decided to quit—not because FIU has enforced a ban.
Jeff—I wrote my previous message before I saw your latest rant. I think you pegged it correctly: you are (in your words) “OBSESSED” with smokers and smoking! I am quite glad that when I signed up to post on this forum that I did not include my last name (or use my FIU email address) as I really think you might be one of those individuals who would cause a scene that would put FIU in the national news. It wouldn't surprise me if you pronounced yourself the smoking police of FIU and pulled a Columbine or Virginia Tech, targeting smokers. Yes, with your hate mail and your obsession, that is how frightening you now sound! So before this escalates any further, I am leaving this forum! You are truly becoming frightening!
Carla and Matt,
Good luck looking for a new school where you can smoke because many are becoming smoke-free and tobacco-free. University of Florida is going tobacco-free on July 1, 2010. University of Central Florida, FAU, and Univ. of South FL all want to do the same. Harvard is smoke-free and over 380 universities in the US are already smoke-free. Every day people of becoming more educated and realized the negative health impact of using tobacco products. This certainly applies to universities where you find the smartest and most educated people. Everyone does not have the intelligence or opportunity to attend a university. If you are here, you obviously have both intelligence and the opportunity. So, when you make choices, choose wisely. Try not to choose things that will ultimately harm you. You'll pay the highest price, your life.
Kim, Amartya, Carla and Matt,
Smoking in one's car does not guarantee that others will not breathe your second-hand smoke. For example, if you are smoking in your car and I park next to you, as soon as open your door, I may breathe some of your second-hand smoke. If someone else walks by on the way to their car, they also breathe your second-hand smoke. Unfortunately, to truly protect everyone on campus from second-hand smoke, there does need to be a total ban on campus.
Kim and Amartya,
There is no comparison with coffee, alcohol, fast food, and tobacco. If you drink 10 cups of coffee in the morning and 2 bottles of liquor at night while eating fast food throughout the entire day, my health is not directly being affected, but if you smoke 1 cigarette and I am near you, I am affected.
Amartya,
In response to you entry that there are no healthy foods on campus: There are a few healthy vending machines on campus where you can buy snacks that do not contain corn syrup, pesticides, cholesterol, and other unhealthy ingredients. They are located in GC, DM, HLS II, and housing. There are organic snacks in the Panther Stop next to the bookstore, and a local and organic Farmers' Market every Wednesday by the central fountain. Everything there is healthy! There are some organic vegetarian wraps, delicious smoothies, and lots of other stuff. It's great! Hope to see you there!
I hope my comments have helped clear things up (no pun intended).
Nancy
FIU Fan — Again, has turned the whole entire post (for her) away from the real issue — the proposed smoking ban. Her opinions of me don't matter. What I hope through this discussion was maybe, just maybe, we passionate non-smokers, get one person to quit — that would be a good thing for them and the health cost issue.
My comments stand and there wasn't one — wait, there was one that Maria C offered up that smoking is just as good as eating ice cream — argument offered that could defend the smoker's rights as more important than ours as non-smoker's. Although, most smokers could care less about non-smoker's rights to breathe air that doesn't contain tobacco carcinogens.
My purpose of my commenting on this issue was to get rid of smoking and its horrible consequences in lives and costs.
So, I hope all will non-smokers join the forum on campus on March 23 and speak up, if allowed, on support of the FIU Administration that wants to make this new policy. Believe me, they'll get the FIU Fan's and the Ice Cream Girl showing up telling them if they don't change their minds, they'll boycott the world. So, non-smokers notify the adminstration that making this policy, that your in support of their ban. Otherwise, only people they'll hear from are all the smoker's complaining. Don't just offer words — actions are needed!
This issue is not between me and FIU Fan or Maria C. It's about the well-being of the student population and faculty at FIU to rid themselves of this nasty product!
FIU Fan — I'm not a bigot (only in your eyes, and I still bet you smoke) and my life and my wife and two kids are doing just fine — been married for 24 years to the same woman without the Tiger Woods or recent, Jesse James issues.
Enjoy the weekend everyone,
Jeff
This is ridiculous, but then again it does not surprise me. It falls right in line with FIU and other college campus censorship policies that have spread like wild fire in the 21st century. Politically correct policies that tear down liberties which were once thought to be irrevocable. That a person can't sit at a park bench and smoke a cigarette or cigar is beyond ridiculous. Even casual or part time smokers make sure to buy a pack before FINALS – I don't think the bigoted, politically correct campus officials realize how big of a role smoking plays in studying for probably 1/3 of FIU students.
FIU feels like it has to make up for something { x } by creating rules that it does not have to. Making it hard for itself and stirring up controversy for no reason apparently.
What utter nonsense, I hope this thing doesn't pass… And if it does, I hope some ACLU type group stands up and supports the 1/3 of students who smoke.
Big Brotha —
Your 1/3 is WRONG! Nationwide the statistic is about 20% of the adult US population smokes. You "politcally correct" — if FIU and the others around the nation that have already successfully implemented this policy, were trying to be "policicatlly correct," then they'd be trying to please you smokers. I love how all of you during the last election thought it was great when Obama got elected by the "majority" of the people. You all sat around and said, "Democracy has been served." Why does it only apply, when smokers speak, to the national election and anything they agree with, but when it comes to democracy (majority/people rule) their abilty to smoke whenever/wherever they'd like, they don't like it?
80% of the majority of people on FIU's Campus don't smoke, so Big Brotha, too bad if you don't like it. We live in a democracy, right?
I feel we don't live in a democracy anymore, but a Republic, where the rights of the minority are just as equal as the rights of the majority.
FIU Fan and Kim — the nicotine's fried your brains! Comparing me to the Columbine or West Virginia type person just shows your ignorance and self-absorbed behavior! Neither one of you, or any other smoker has laid claim to NEVER LITTERING. or PAYING FOR YOUR OWN HEALTH CARE costs!
You want the right to abuse your health — go ahead, just don't ask the 80% of us non-smokers to do it for you! Offer something next post to you paying for your owh healthcare and picking up every one of your stinky cigarettes after you're finished, and I'll buy you a pack of cigarettes!
No, you both just keep bringing up ridiculous rationalizations on my posts! You've spent your entire life being told by your friends or accepted by your friends and they don't tell you anything bad! Well, I'm not your friend and there are more people on this post that agree with me telling you and other smokers that we're sick of your nasty habit and want you to clean up your butts and I want you to pay for your own oxygen bottles, nurses, and doctors when, NOT IF, you get emphysema or something else. Sorry, you don't like the truth with regards to your smoking. I voiced it, but every time you light up around non-smokers — check their eye contact. Look at their disgusted look when your right to smoke and smoke hits their nostrils. Watch them pack up and leave you to your peace. Then you can say, "They really love me don't they?" I said it, and you compare me to murderers. I can guarantee you I have a pristine criminal background — no DUi's — haven't had a traffic ticket since 1994, and no I don't need you to tell me my background looked similar to the one you referred to.
Kim — what a joke of brain energy. I'll say it for the last time, not because I want the last word, but because your thought process is in need of repairs. Smoking near non-smokers — next time look around. Ask the non-smoker, as you puff and they don't — ask them how much they "love your right to smoke."
Thanks for reading.
I was under the impression that this was a public forum for the FIU students to contribute feedback. I had no idea it was going to turn into smokers vs. Jeff. I wouldn't have given my initial opinion if I knew this joker would try badgering everyone to agree with his view when FIU set this up for EVERYONE.
Jeff, you make a good arguement. I disagree with your extremist tactics full of hate and arrogance. Don't you think you've made your point? Let the other students have their voices heard whether they are selfish blood suckers who smoke cigarettes or not. No where on FIU's message did I see "students will have to answer to Jeff."
MV — Where have I "hogged up" all the storage space on the blog's servers? I'm sure there is plenty of megabytes left for your pro-smoking agenda comments. All your smoker friends have had the opportunity to post.
Where did Karen post that "only one post per person was allowed?" I've appreciated her professionalism by allowing the free debate. Just because I can write a lot doesn't mean I've kept any of your supporters from contributing good arguments on the positive benefits of smoking. Guess there aren't many, huh?
Smoking in our country has been going on for a couple of hundred years. Most people are apathetic towards this subject — "accepting they'll never change anything," and haven't said much to smokers over the years. In the past two decades, with guys like me, we've seen to it that we've removed smoking from planes, inside airports, public buildings, and inside buildings. What's next? Moving smokers from 30 feet from any public building, and now universities. I'm not taking credit for FIU's decision or any others — just trying to affect the direction the way I think it should go to please the majority of people — the non smoking society.
As for your comments, MV, on "smokers vs. Jeff" — only the nicotine can be blamed for their comments. I stood up for my beliefs and haven't attacked anyone, other than attacking smoking, which Kim and FIU Fan and others have associated their habit, which is what I hate, to my comments of saying "I hate smokers." Just today, I counted over 200 cigarette butts in my daily run. How'd they get there smokers? Just fell off the truck, right? I want EVERY single smoker to pick up their trash! They don't, so this is why I hate them. I've tried to make it clear, MV, but when I hear the argument from smokers that, "I have the right ____" (go ahead, fill in the excuse, I've heard it before) they stop thinking that you, as a smoker, do NOT have the right to litter nor the right to cost us 80% of non-smokers the medical bills for the habit.
MV — is this clear enough?
It's not my blog — I just excercised my right to free speech. On this subject, I figured we would have had thousands of posts from smokers, just like Maria C defending their claim to the wonderful health benefits of eating ice cream and smoking, but most of the other smokers were too busy out having a puff!
Thanks for reading.
Jeff –
We live in a republic, but not the Republic of Cuba.
The possible implementation of this anti-smoking ban will be a start to the well known, "slippery slope" of diminished liberties that will soon infringe on something dear to you. Like your money. Pretty soon there will be stop sign cameras and speeding cameras all over campus. They will fine you $100+ for not coming to a complete stop or for going 5mph over the speed limit. Trust me bro, this type of obsessive enforcement will soon creep into your life in a way that you won't like…
BTW my 1/3 statistic is probably accurate if you count all the students who socially smoke with friends around FIU – including those who "bum" smokes among friends socially and especially those who occasionally smoke around tests, FINALS, or weekends. Undergraduates help this percentage increase. Miami is a party city, and given the relative low cost of cigarettes compared to other states like New York, there are more smokers per capita here in Miami than most other metro areas IMO.
Regards –
Hi again FIU crowd. Let’s try not to be mean to each other. I know it is not easy to be when nobody cares about us smokers with feeling. Jeff I know you have been a good person once and I know you do not mean to talk bad things. You are mad with yourself and so it is always normal to throw your anger at others. I have done this too so I am understanding your hurt. If you need me to help. I am there as a freind.
Blessings to all,
Maria C.
I think Jeff should run for Student Government.
If implemented, this ban on smoking will only be infringing on the rights of the students, faculty, and staff. It is a ridiculous notion that creating a ban on smoking will at all change the “healthiness” of the campus environment. Frankly, unless someone is smoking inside a building, it should not bother any non-smokers when they walk around campus and see smokers outside. The truth is, that FIU wants to create a healthier campus environment, then maybe it should consider have cleaner bathrooms and eating areas. I was undergrad student here, and I currently attend the College of Law, and I have never seen anybody actually clean and sanitize the tables that we all sit on in GC.
Let’s just be honest, non-smokers would prefer for the FIU smokers to accept the ban because of the false notion that it would create a healthier environment, but the truth is that this ban should not be implemented on the “preferences” of anybody. FIU is a public institution, this would be the same as telling smokers that they should not smoke on the street. In fact, if FIU wants to promote a healthier campus environment, why not start with something that can actually affect the safety of the FIU community like creating a “dry” campus. [For those of you that do not know what I mean by “dry”, it is simply a term used to describe alcohol free. While I cannot confirm this, I would assume that the Chilli’s Too that is set to open in GC where Gracie’s Grill (which used to sell beer) used to be will be selling alcohol. Should I bring up some statistics on the dangers of drinking (not only to the drinker himself, but also to those around him through the irresponsibility of drunk driving, for example)?
Even if Chili’s Too does not sell alcohol, there are plenty of events where alcohol is served in the school, and this has a more adverse effect on the FIU community!
I hope that you all can see that this smoking ban is pointless and ridiculous, FIU is “smoke-free” enough by not selling tobacco on campus. That fact alone should be enough of an inconvenience for FIU community smokers.
There really is no viable or truthful justification for this ban. The truth is that FIU is simply succumbing to the social pressure of fitting in with this anti-smoking vendetta. Enough is enough!
If FIU wants to forced smokers from smoking on her campus, fine! How about if ALL OF US STOP BUYING FIU MERCHANDISE, VENDING MACHINE PRODUCTS? That ought to get rid of that STUPID PEPSI contract FIU has with Pepsi. LET'S ALL BOYCOTT FIU-RELATED PRODUCTS MERCHANDISE, especially VENDING MACHINE products. We will see how would they feel when they are in the situation. Now, suppose this becomes a law, how is FIU going to ENFORCE IT? Through police? FIU must now set aside MONEY, additional money from TUITION, in order to pay off these officers. If an officer catches students smoking, what are they going to do? Take them to jail? I think this is nothing but a stupid plan set forth by a few people who has nothing better to do but to infringe the rights of people thereby avocating, at the same time, human rights. Want to know why the world is what it is? Why is FIU corrupted? Because the STUDENT GOVERNMENT BODY has NO POWER, and NO LEADERSHIP. If they did, they would REPRESENT US STUDENTS, rather than always YIELD to the university's BOR.
FIU Law and Engineering Student — Again, you prove my previous points on how selfish you smokers are! NOT ONE comment on the rights of the non-smoker to breathe clean, polluted air. You think non-smokers are "entitled and treated" to your wonderful cancer-filled rat poison you so freely distribute to us on the street and in "public" spaces.
Non-smokers are also taxpaying citizens that pay for tuition and salaries too! You make it seem like we should only cater to you "smoker's rights" people.
I was just at the beach this past week and witnessed several smokers flicking their butts in the ocean, putting them out in the sand and covering them up, and tossing them into those "public" streets for us all to enjoy. Clean up your butts, create a self-inhaling mask that keeps the smoke ONLY in your nostrils and lungs, and pay for your own healthcare to treat your stupid habit, and the rest of us non-smokers won't care about imposing new restrictions on your "right to smoke!"
Thanks for reading.