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Editorial
College should have allowed smoking in cars
Although the tobacco-free policy at MHCC is in effect, several students can still be seen smoking all around campus. Now, instead of smoking at designated areas with receptacles, they appear to simply be smoking in areas that aren’t visible to most faculty and other talking heads. Taking a walk around the pond area and other parts of the back-40, cigarette butts can be found anywhere, most of which appear fresh. So rather than having a place to throw away their trash, students are simply flinging them into the surrounding environment.
According to public safety, things are “going pretty smoothly” so far. Perhaps this is because public safety can’t be in more than two or three places at once, and students know how to sneak a puff here and there. There is also the possibility that students just aren’t aware of the new policy.
Thursday morning, a group of smokers – about 60 feet from a parked public safety vehicle – told a reporter they “don’t care if they get caught.” When asked if they would pay a possible fine, the students said they wouldn’t. The group was also unaware that students were not allowed to smoke in their own vehicle, to which they responded, “That’s bullshit.”
Did college officials really think that students would no longer smoke in their vehicles?
f students were able to smoke in their cars, rather than having to go off campus entirely, they may at least be more inclined to follow the policy instead of blatantly ignoring it and riddling the campus with litter.
If students are in the parking lot, they’re likely already inhaling all sorts of exhaust from a myriad of vehicles; cigarette smoke would, at the very least, be no worse from a health stand point.
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