TWU: Harbouring vices and hiding sinners?
Various responses to those in our community who smoke
January 23, 2008
Josh Gregg
Left: Josh Gregg displays tobacco-related litter found in the Back 40. [Photo: Austin Jean]
Trinity Western University students smoke. Cigarette packs and butts litter the Back 40. Interviewing several smokers, I have learned that security asks students who smoke simply to do it more discreetly than quit altogether in accordance with the Community Standards. “Once I was asked for a light by a security guard,” one student comments, “and then told me that I just need to go further into the Back 40.”
Are students who smoke only considered a part of TWU’s community if they hide their vices from public view? For the sake of argument, let us assume for a minute that they are a part of TWU’s community. What are the ramifications?
Health risks of second-hand smoking and lung/heart disease are positively correlated; hence, Canada’s public health ban on smoking in all establishments, which was legislated in 2004 and brought to actuality during 2006. The Canadian Cancer Society has recently taken this ban a step further, with polls implying a smoking ban in cars as well. The polls prove that a solid majority of Canadians who smoke would support the idea.
Part of the smoking ban legislation in 2004 implemented a limit on tobacco advertisement too. Research affirms a link between tobacco consumption and tobacco displays—monkey see, monkey do. The Comic Magazine Association of America tightened its censorship of comics by adding a section to the “Comics Code” on “Substance Abuse” in 1989. The code defined substance abuse as “the use of illicit drugs and the self-destructive use of such products as tobacco.” It further stated that “smoking tobacco will not be depicted in a glamorous way.” Finally, “in each story, the abuser will be shown to pay the physical, mental and/or social penalty for his or her abuse.” Marvel Comics is particularly concerned with images of substance abuse in their comics and even today are hesitant of publishing X-men trades with Wolverine sucking on cigarettes.
So there are substantial dangers to the presence of tobacco everywhere. And with packs and butts strewn about the slopes of the Back 40, it’s no wonder the administration wants to ban smoking. It would be opening a can of worms or like poking a stick at a beehive or some other animal-related reference.
However, these aren’t worms or bees that the administration is dealing with — smokers are people, students at the university, who simply pay one more visit to the Back 40 than most other students do. Would it hurt just to give them a gazebo? Treat them like people?
“It’d be nice to have a designated spot,” says one student in an interview, while taking a drag from a cigarette. “Yeah, I feel outcast, man,” laments another student.
No, this would be crazy, right? Smoking is a stupid habit, filthy and should be stamped out of establishments entirely. Besides, why don’t these individuals just quit smoking or change universities if they don’t feel welcome on campus?
TWU is well known for being a welcoming university, but it appears that we’re full of welcome only when things are the way they should be—clean, free of vice, full of smiles.
One student comments, “I hate that others look down on me as I’m coming out of the Back 40 after a smoke. I want to quit, but quitting smoking I think could be one of the hardest things in my life right now. It’s not something that just goes away.”
There is a danger here in treating individuals as if they are criminals when they are just making a life decision for themselves. I’m curious how the administration will continue handling issues within the “Responsibilities of Membership,” and as “Christian students” per se, I think we need to be more open to talking openly rather than living discreetly.
Now you go...
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