This university has a policy stating that if you want a cigarette, you must remain at least 25 feet from the entrance of any public building on campus. Thankfully, that hasn’t extended to private residences, yet.

Ed Board doesn’t support extraneous regulations, and that’s what this regulation is. It is not enforced and in some cases it is blatantly ignored. Need proof? Just look at all the ashtrays on campus within feet or, in some cases, inches from the entryway.

Now, we suppose that this regulation was created because some people don’t like walking through cigarette smoke. It does smell bad and burn the eyes, after all.

However, this will happen even if smokers are 25 feet from the entrance. People are still going to have to walk through it.

There is another reason for the regulation, though. If smokers are standing next to doorways, then the smoke will blow into the building. This is considered bad for the same reasons we discussed above.

We would like to either see the regulation enforced, and have ashtrays moved away from doorways, or done away with.

We would prefer the second option, and that’s not because we’re a bunch of nicotine fiends. It’s because this regulation treats smokers as if they are second-class citizens.Of course, this seems to be a national norm, as evidenced by the glass booths in airports and other public areas.

Now we understand that people don’t like being around cigarette smoke, which is the reason for the booths, but that’s only a cover-up solution.

What should be happening is a national movement to help people quit.

If the government were really serious about getting people to quit smoking, then there should be a federal subsidy for alternatives, such as patches and nicotine gum.

Obviously, this isn’t the case, as patches and gum are much more expensive than an equal quantity of cigarettes.

Whether this is because of lobbyists from cigarette companies or just the manufacturers inflating their prices, we can’t say, but we would like to see this change.

We believe that the government should tax cigarette companies and use those taxes to subsidize anti-smoking aids.

As for university policy, either enforce or remove. That’s the only way to stop the hypocrisy.