Even though I am allergic to cigarette smoke, I am a smoker. I did not choose to smoke, but NIU has decided that in order to attend classes here, I must smoke.

As I enter DuSable, Reavis or Faraday Halls, I have no choice but to breathe the smokers’ extra smoke.

People like David Bywaters think this is nothing compared to the “discomfort” he suffers from “extreme variations in temperature” in the various classroom buildings, particularly Reavis Hall.

In his Feb. 9 letter to the Star, Bywaters said that instead of revising the university’s smoking policy to better accomodate non-smokers, the Interior Facilities Environment Committee might better spend its time investigating the uncomfortable fluctuating indoor temperatures.

Apparently, he thinks carrying an extra sweater in the middle of winter is more discomforting than the health problems caused by inhaling nicotine, carbon monoxide, benzopyrene, tar and other toxins in tobacco smoke.

Well, Mr. Bywaters, I never have heard of temperature variations causing cancer, and I never have heard of cancer being comfortable.

Kelly A. Hodge

freshman

chemistry