This letter is in response to the debate that ensued at the Senate Meeting on Wednesday night (11/28). The safety of SLU students presents a significant concern if smoking were limited to parking lots and city sidewalks. It is important for SLU students to use their discretion when deciding where to smoke so they do not put themselves in a dangerous situation. Students who go off-campus are constantly walking in these areas, and this law would not ask them to go anywhere they would not normally go.

Secondly, one of the senators voiced a concern about how choices that we make everyday carry certain risks. He argued that the risk of breathing in secondhand smoke is no greater than the risks that daily life imposes. Some examples given included crossing the street and taking a shower. I agree that these actions can create risk. The difference, however, between these actions and breathing in secondhand smoke is that people are actively choosing to perform the actions. I do not choose to breathe in secondhand smoke. It is something that negatively and involuntarily affects my health and the health of all people on SLU’s campus, not merely those that smoke.

Sarah Kuehnle
President, smoke.free.slu
Senior