Across the campus and across the globe, smokers are feeling the pressure to extinguish their cigarettes in public places. Smoking is already banned in all public places in Arizona and California. It is prohibited in all enclosed workplaces in Ireland, Italy, Estonia and the United Kingdom.

On Saint Louis University’s campus, smokers may also get the cold shoulder.

Soon, smokers here might be banished to the outskirts of campus when they feel the urge to light up. The Student Government Association will present two referenda to graduate and undergraduate students in two weeks’ time, one of which would determine whether students would limit smoking “exclusively to campus parking lots and the campus perimeter.”

Though this referendum will not change University policy-it is nothing more than a glorified opinion poll-the data it produces could be used to build a case for a campus-wide smoking ban for students, staff and faculty in the future.

Groups like smoke.free.SLU have already succeeded in lobbying SGA to move ashtray receptacles 25 feet from building entrances, in an attempt to reduce the effects of second-hand smoke. Though well intended, this policy is unenforceable and thus ineffective. Non-smokers must still waft through wayward puffs of exhaled smoke on the way to class; the only difference, post-policy, is that they must do it 25 feet earlier.

We must have a stricter policy governing smoking in public at SLU.

Banning the act of smoking does not ban the smoker. Though those who smoke may feel inconvenienced by having to walk further for a cigarette, they’ll be sparing those who cannot inhale smoke due to health reasons, or simply do not want to. Decreased smoke inhalation also decreases the risk of heart disease, cancer and emphysema.

Perhaps the walk to the nether regions of campus will encourage smokers to quit, if only for the sake of convenience. Arduous cross-country walks will forcibly increase smokers’ fitness. Another benefit is that SLU will have to hire extra security to cover campus edges and parking lots.

Though tobacco smoking is not illegal, it is proven to have serious, negative effects on human health.

SGA’s referendum may push smokers to the edge of campus a few times per day, but stringent limits on smoking can only benefit the SLU community.

So, when the referendum appears on your ballot, vote to eliminate on-campus smoking and improve the air around SLU.