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Smokers it is time to stand and be counted. Why should we be looked upon as second class people? I am not by any way saying non smokers should not have rights as well. I am saying as smokers we should be treated the same as non smokers. I am sick of going out in the rain, cold and heat to smoke. We smokers are Doctors, Nurses, Lawyers, Dentists, Religious leaders, Business Men and Women, Law Enforcement Men and Women, Farmers, Builder, Fathers, Mothers, Brothers, Sisters, Aunts, Uncles, & STUDENTS. We come from all walks of life. We are all the same. There are always pros and cons to any situation, even smoking. I, who started this petition, am a NON-SMOKER, but I have smoked in the past. I know that when you light that cigarette, inhale that first puff, you take in all consequences health wise that comes with it. We know that smoking may cause cancer in us.
Ridgewater College (both campuses Willmar & Hutchinson) Student Senate body wants to make our campus 100% smoke free. That means everyone, both students AND faculty must be OFF CAMPUS, in order to smoke. Because of your PERSONAL choice, you are being COMMUNALLY oustered, or "segregated" from the rest of your friends, students & faculty because of your personal ideals, or you’re CHOICE to smoke. This by definition is DISCRIMINATION. You are not being pushed off campus for breaking any of the college, local or state laws, but because you enjoy something that takes an acquired taste. If you were to keep the principal the same, but change "cigarette" to say, "Rap or polka music", "Our College is 100% rap free" would force those who enjoy these to listen to it off campus.
"They are not even trying to accommodate every college student. The choice to ban smoking should be up to the individual owners rather than the government. You take away that choice and we are not American anymore."~Barbara Aucoin, president of the Massachusetts chapter of Fight Ordinances and Restrictions to Control and Eliminate Smoking (FORCES)
Ridgewater College is GOVERNMANTALLY ran and funded by the state, local & federal communities, and is not owned by an individual. To let this action to happen would force smokers to find somewhere else to learn, even if they cannot afford to go to any other institution, or even if they have the greatest desire to learn at our institution over any other. This would force school revenue to have a dramatic change, both positively and negatively. This could affect whether the classes you assigned for to be eliminated to lack of funding for that department. Do you want this to happen?? Make your voice heard. Even if you are not a smoker, the understating to be an individual, regardless of personal decisions, should not affect how you or anyone else on the chance to learn and become someone great. Please visit the links as well do see both positive ad negative affects on banning smoking at your College or institution.
Banning smoking in college would set a troublesome precedent. It would establish a system for "legislating morality" that can drain personal rights until there is no more freedom of choice or expression. |
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All students in our college communites. |
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