Puff Puff...Give!

You walk out of the mailroom headed toward north campus, and take the preparatory deep breath. It's Quarter Beer night, and the air in the entryway is viscous with smoke. A few cool cats drape themselves off the railing between the ramp and the stairs. You drop your eyes and head and try to make it past the FedEx drop-off box without breathing.

It's 10:57 am and you're hustling into King, anticipating jogging up the stairs to your Philosophy class. Someone tosses a cigarette butt toward the recently erected No Smoking sign, narrowly missing another tobacco connoisseur leaning against its red surface. He and his friend are engaging in the fun smoker game of Puff Puff ... Give!

Lots of second-hand smokers at Oberlin are tired of these scenarios. Forty-one faculty and staff in King signed a petition this week asking the College to begin enforcing the ban against smoking by the west entrance of their building. They cited the serious diseases that are linked to second-hand smoke, requesting that the college provide them with a healthy working environment. These faculty and staff are asking the college to intervene because smokers just don't care who suffers because of their smoking.

Surely, smokers aren't oblivious. The infamous RAE board in Mudd always has a question or two posted about the ramp smokers. RAE says that smokers can be fined and even brought to J-board, but that the no smoking policy is seldom enforced.

"You can put it in their face, but you really need to put it in their mind," says Tony Scott, Oberlin Groundsworker. The "it" Scott is referring to is the Outpost, the latest machinery designed to receive people's cigerette butts. Scott, an admitted smoker, says he could spend 40 hours a week picking up butts if he wanted to. Are smokers at Oberlin too busy, preoccupied or spoiled to do something as simple as putting their butts in the garbage?

Many have questioned Oberlin's relationship with Philip Morris and some are concerned over the money the company donated toward our new environmental studies building. This week, the Oberlin Committee on Shareholding Responsibility vetoed a resolution that the College sell all its shares of tobacco stock Monday. It's important to remember that a fairly large population of Oberlin students support the company in a more direct fashion by buying its carcinogenous products.

No one expects the next revolutionary war will be fought between smokers and nonsmokers. Nonetheless, the problem is incredibly huge. Everyone, smokers and second-hand breathers know that smoking is horrible. Everyone knows that it can speed up death and sickness in smokers and second-hand breathers. Still, hundreds - maybe thousands - continue to smoke. No editorial is going to change that.

Smokers can be aware of how their habit or addiction affects others. The reality is that your smoking does undeniably adversely affect groundsworkers like Tony Scott, sickened staff in King and asthmatic first-years who might be afraid to confront you. You make other people's lives not only uncomfortable, but in many cases ... sick.

Fundamental changes in lifestyle aren't neccesary. We're not asking you to do a silly thing like find ways to quit sucking up those carcinogen sticks. We're not asking you to lower your chances of lung and mouth cancer. Hell, we're not even asking you to improve your breath and your intimate life. We're asking you to step outside of yourself for a second and be considerate. Put yourself in a non-smokers position. Smoking in places where people's comfort and health are being infringed upon may not be cool or comfortable, but it's the right thing to do. Give!