The Interior Facilities Environments Committee has made a finding that a majority of faculty and staff favor a smoking policy “in some form.” I question whether this provides a clear warrant for the Committee’s proposed policy, which seems to have taken a particularly rigorous and punitive form.

Most campus buildings already have a smoking policy in some form. In Reavis Hall, where I work, smoking is forbidden in most common areas. This policy seems to work well. No one has demonstrated a need to alter it.

The Interior Facilities Environments Committee might employ itself more usefully by investigating the extreme variations in temperature, which, at least in Reavis, contribute far more than does tobacco smoke to the discomfort of the students, faculty and staff who must work there.

David Bywaters

assistant professor

English