Faculty Senate President Paul Stoddard made a comment in Thursday’s edition of the Northern Star that intrigued me.

In regard to the smoking ban implementation, he suggested that NIU spend its money on shelters because he “[worries] about people who are going to smoke anyway standing out in the rain, cold, snow and ice and getting sick and not being able to [go] to work.”

My question to Mr. Stoddard is this: if you are proposing to build smoking shelters to accommodate certain students because they choose to smoke, how about building shelters for those students who choose to go to class by riding the bus?

I personally stand outside of Barsema Hall three times a week waiting for a bus and now with the cold weather arriving, I stand out there in below freezing temperatures.

Why are smokers entitled to kiosks to shield them from the weather and not students who need to go to class?

I am a full-time student who also works 30 hours per week.

I also need to be healthy enough to go to work, but I don’t smoke. Why is the president concerned about smokers missing work and not the regular students as well?

Jamie Jaster
Junior, history

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