Mixed Reaction To Tobacco Ban On UC Campuses

January 12, 2012 5:35 PM

Reporting Ben Sosenko

DAVIS (CBS13) — The UC system is banning smoking and chewing tobacco on all ten campuses starting in two years.

Reaction to the ban was mixed at UC Davis on Thursday.

“I’m just glad I’m not going to be here when that happens,” senior Sean Zweifler said.

He admittedly has a smoker’s bias, but he thinks the new ban is unfair.

“We’re not banning people from spraying cologne or driving or things like that,” he said. “I mean there are a lot of things people are doing that are affecting people’s health.

As a smoker, Zweifler is in the minority on campus. Some students who choose not to light up think banning smoking is the right move.

“A lot of people smoke on campus so I guess it’ll be nicer to go around on campus without having the congestion,” junior Miles Thompson said.

But it’s not just the smoke that’s clearing on UC campuses. Chewing tobacco will be banned as well.

“If it’s unhealthy, I think to ban it on campus is fine, but people can still do it on their own if they choose to do it,” freshman Michelle Wolff said.

But junior Kelly Thorton disagreed, saying if smoking and chewing are legal in California, they should be on campus too.

“There are bigger issues that should be dealt with, like tuition hikes,” she said. “Why don’t they deal with that?”

There’s still no word yet on what the penalties will be if students are caught smoking after that ban goes into effect.

According to the San Jose Mercury News, about 8 percent of UC students and 10 percent of staff smoke. Those numbers are reportedly much lower than national averages.

charles

We are heading in the right direction, but of course people are to bright, and yet more dumber then rocks. Ban on smoking I get, I just started quiting, over 35 yrs smoking. One day it will be banned completely, now with the chew, it’s a whole other issue, you dumb idiots. Common Sense? Does anyone have any or is it just me that can be totally honest, not other peoples so called realities. Chewing is gross, anyone can see, but the chewing I don’t have to breath.
mike

As a smoker, I know I’m biased too, but I do see how the “impolite smokers” make a bad name for all of us. I go out of my way to keep the smoke from affecting others, but banning it on the campus will disrupt the first part of class as your fellow student will get that smoke in and then show up late because they had to walk across the street… You should ban smoking except for designated areas. Another idea is to ban smoking from the U.S. completely and then lets see where you get your tax revenue from.
Dude

Yep … in two year no more tobacco products of any kind on UC Campuses … of course most will be smoking pot instead … with a medical prescription of course … but you can bet that while tobacco is out, the pot heads will still be smokin’.
Ray

I say if you don’t want the Smokers then don’t take their tax dollars we all pay taxes and we pay for these UC campuses . I think you you have more problems than smokers on campus like stop treating Illegals better than citizens they should be charged like all the rest of out of State students.
MAC49

It specifically said “tobacco”, lets not get so silly to think they would band Marijuana, Not a chance!
http://headlinenewsreport.org/healthnews/uc-system-banning-smoking-from-all-campuses-san-francisco-chronicle.html UC system banning smoking from all campuses – San Francisco Chronicle | headlinenewsreport.org

[...] products on all its campuses within two years. The University of California is banning …Mixed Reaction To Tobacco Ban On UC CampusesCBS LocalUC system bans smoking, chewing of tobaccoSan Jose Mercury NewsAll UC campuses will become [...]
rmcsticks

And again I say, your in school to learn not be stupid….if people have to tell you smoking is bad Then your already an IDIOT and school is not going to help.