A proposal on the upcoming ballot puts forward the idea to make Missouri Southern a smoke-free, tobacco-free and vapor-free campus.

This proposal would go into effect at the beginning of the 2015-2016 academic year.

The current policy prohibits smoking and tobacco use of any kind and tobacco products are not permitted in any campus buildings. Smoking and other tobacco usage is permitted only in designated areas outside of buildings much like the standards set in most restaurants and sporting stadiums around the area.

On the outside of some buildings throughout campus, there are signs stating there should be no smoking within 50 feet of an entrance, an appropriate restriction to protect non-smoking students from the smog that comes along with second-hand smoke.

Missouri Southern’s campus is on 373 acres of land and the buildings are spread out enough that if the current policy was enforced, students might not walk out of a building into an unwelcome cloud.

Smokers on campus do not follow the policy as it is now, likely because the policy is not enforced as is, so we feel the problems lies within implementing the policies, not changing them.

In the end all parties should have the right to peruse what they wish, just as long as what they wish respects others and the school regulations.