I believe we can all agree that this was a free country and that smoking is not an illegal activity. I also believe that the intent of the new state law is to protect, by providing a clean environment, the health of those that choose not to smoke.

While we all agree that smoking is not a healthy activity, it is one of many unhealthy activities someone can choose to participate in. It is not the place of the state to determine that everyone must quit smoking, but we will be required to comply with the new state law. Some individuals may choose to continue to smoke, which is their right.

I believe that a balance should be made to protect those that don’t want the smoke while at the same time not punish and make feel like a second-class citizen those that choose to smoke. Since when did it become OK to make a whole group of people feel both uncomfortable and unwanted?

The law itself is already very restrictive; with that in mind, I do not understand why the NIU Smoke-Free Campus Task Force has proposed to go to the farthest extent possible with restrictions. If the intent is to provide a smoke-free environment on campus, what is the problem with allowing smokers to sit in their car and smoke if they choose to do that?

The law does not restrict it, so why would NIU? Some people will not have the ability to get in their car and drive off to smoke, so why make it so difficult for them? They state that the smoking ban will be more successful and less confusing if everything is banned. That is like saying we should ban liquor sales at all DeKalb restaurants because someone may drink, get in a car and drive and possibly kill someone.

That doesn’t make sense. Clearly state the rules and if someone breaks the rule, they should be accountable.

Additionally, we say we don’t want to be a suitcase university, we say we want to increase our enrollment, yet we continue to do things that will further restrict our students so they will want to leave campus. I have no idea what this will do to activities at the Convocation Center that are open to the public or tailgating for the football games. I feel we should follow the law to the letter and not impose further restrictions.

It’s not NIU’s job to make every person at the university a non-smoker; just make sure we are within compliance of the new law. If someone wants to make this change an opportunity to try to quit, you should help support that. Why make it any more complicated than that?

When it comes to smoking, believe it or not, some choose to make that decision for themselves, and they should have the right to do that. I was a smoker for 30 years and quit just over a year ago — looks like just in time.