Craving a smoke-free campus

I was a newbie, straight out of high school, just trying to take college life one breath of drunken air at a time. I remember it like yesterday: walking toward the fountain to my first class at Anderson Hall, when a cough of secondhand smoke found its way into my air hole along with the aforementioned air.

My "I'm a big kid now" smile immediately took a dive into a cringe and a frown. Still, it wouldn't have been a blip on the radar screen if it were not for a minute later when a second suicidal maniac bumped into me, leaving a speck of ash on my shirt in his wake. However, this time, I was a little more composed and promptly forgave him, knowing that I would exact my revenge in the not-so-distant future when I leave a speck of ash at his wake.

In any event, I noticed that the pristine fountain, cherished so much from afar, was suffocated by second-hand smoke, ash and cigarette butts encircling it. My desire to run home and get a broom was just barely overwhelmed by the choking feeling I got being near the fountain.

I respect a smoker's right to kill him or herself, but only as much as it doesn't impede my right to enjoy the clean and pure environment that makes the Northwest and the UW so beautiful. It's disgusting that in a society that is supposed to be enlightened, we allow the bad habits of the few to impose on the rest of the population.

High schools across the state became smoke-free long before smoking was made illegal for minors in Washington. The UW should follow suit. Only a handful of universities have taken the virtually unprecedented step of banning smoking, but maybe the UW should take the lead on this crusade. Except for a few appropriately designated areas, there would be no smoking inside our campus.

Why, at the core of our educational system, do we allow a fatal habit to proliferate among the future leaders of our country? By making campus smoke-free, it's possible that we may drastically reduce the number of student smokers.

Students hate rules almost as much as they hate TAs who don't speak English. Arbitrary rules burdened us through so much of our childhood and adolescence that we want nothing to do with them as "free" young adults. We'll endure a hundred injustices to preserve one freedom, even if it makes no sense.

But maybe this time we can dare to be different, impose a little order upon ourselves, and make this campus a cleaner, healthier and less-toxic place.