Students are doing it, employees are doing it and you better believe tailgaters and fans are going to do it.
You can see the signs and stickers in front of, and on, every building on campus, but you can also still see the ash cans.
Right now, it looks like smoking is here to stay.
Two weeks in and the campus-wide smoking ban looks to be more bark than bite, which is a good thing no matter which side you're on.
The new smoke-free Auburn is an affront to any member of the Auburn Family that smokes.
It was instituted through non-democratic means, and relies on students and faculty informing on each other as its enforcement.
Smokers were given no chance to speak for themselves, and no chance for compromise.
The policy goes beyond just simple health and wellness policies, and has its feet firmly planted in the realm of authoritarian nonsense.
So yes, we say it's a good thing the policy has had little effect on smoking on campus for smokers and non-smokers alike.
For smokers, the benefit of the policy's lackluster impact is obvious. For non-smokers, the benefit comes from not being expected to enforce a ridiculous prohibition or rat out fellow students.
Why should a policy alienating a portion of the Auburn Family be allowed to succeed?
According to the sanctions clause of the Smoke-Free Campus Policy, "Individuals refusing to comply with this policy and repeat offenders must be addressed through the existing disciplinary policies outlined in the Student Code of Conduct, Faculty Handbook and the Human Resource policies housed in the University Policy Database."
The sanctions system, as stated in the Student Code of Conduct, follows a two-strike method with the strikes being an informal and formal warning. After that, the sanctions escalate severely.
A smoker who habitually violates the policy may face probation, suspension, expulsion and even be expected to give restitution to the University.
If this seems a little harsh, that's because it is. These sanctions were intended to punish cheating, vandalism and other serious offenses.
Yet, they are being used to scare smokers into following the smoke-free policy.
Using the sanction system against smokers is a low blow.
In essence, the offices who instituted the policy said smokers deserve the same punishment as cheaters and vandals.
We can't even say the punishment doesn't fit the crime because there is no crime.
The statistics and studies on second-hand smoke show you would need to inhale massive amounts to cause any damage, and even then, it's a matter of chance.
Do we even need to mention all this smokingis going on outside?
We want to challenge the Office of Risk Management and Safety and the Office of Health and Wellness Services to take a step back from their anti-smoking fervor, and look at what they are doing, what they are asking us to do.
There has to be a compromise. Tattling on each other is not the answer, and suspending or expelling students certainly isn't either.
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