If Facebook is any indication of the general sentiments of students at IU, it seems that a sizable minority of us think Ugg boots are annoying, if not outright offensive. Logically, the next step is to form a group against Uggs on IU's campus, followed by submitting a proposal to President Adam Herbert outlining how to effect a ban of such hideous footwear.\nWhat's that you say? An outspoken minority with a fiercely held position can't arbitrarily create rules that govern the whole student body as well as faculty and staff?\nIf you return to the opening paragraph and replace "Ugg boots" with "smoking," you've outlined the administration's response to an initiative by the Students' Smokefree Coalition. Just before Thanksgiving, Herbert informed the group that he had assigned a task force to investigate its proposal to ban smoking on the IU-Bloomington campus.\nOf course everyone knows about the risks to both smokers and those inhaling second-hand smoke. But while plenty of research has illustrated smoking's threat to people in enclosed areas, there is little evidence regarding the risks of smoking outdoors to passers-by. If you catch a whiff of it as you walk to class, will its harm be that much more severe than the lungful of car exhaust you'll inhale during the same stroll? In a March 1, 2000, article in the research journal Tobacco Control, Editor Simon Chapman noted that bans on outdoor smoking were predicated more on its being a nuisance than its actual risk and argued that outdoor bans could be detrimental to the anti-smoking movement as "efforts to prevent people smoking outdoors risk besmirching tobacco control advocates as the embodiment of intolerant, paternalistic busybodies, who, not content at protecting their own health, want to force smokers to not smoke even in circumstances where the effects of their smoking on others are immeasurably small." Asthmatics have a legitimate complaint, certainly -- but couldn't we accommodate their needs by simply enforcing the restrictions currently on the books (by avoiding smoking within 30 feet of campus buildings)? \nOn Oct. 3, we highlighted the ban's unenforceability; besides its logistical difficulties, we have to ask if such a miniscule risk justifies letting others control our behavior.
DISSENT:\nThough it's a personal choice for a smoker to endanger his or her health, it's not an option for innocent bystanders to avoid second-hand smoke.\nAside from all the negative health effects, I have the right to breathe clean air if I want to. Yes, smokers also have the right to smoke if they choose to, but they ought to do it in an area that is not in the direct line of a nonsmoker's breathable air.\nIU should institute a smoking ban because it is something that has the potential to benefit everybody. While the nonsmokers would get to enjoy fresh air, the smokers would be put out of their way when they want to light up. This might perhaps contribute to a decline in smoking on IU's campus and ultimately to a happier and healthier student body.\n--Natalie Avon
