Dear Editor,
I, like many students, would like to see our campus continue to be a leader in our community. One way we can ensure this is by staying current with state university trends regarding tobacco health policy. When we have a learning environment that supports the health of all students, we are making a statement that health is important. We are also actively supporting one of the six tenets of transformative learning that our university embraces: Health and wellness.
I support UCOSA and its president who, like so many students feel that leading the university in a positive direction is important. I also believe that it is crucial that we continue to move our university from “good” to “great” and continue a legacy of leadership.
I take exception to the fact that spit tobacco is somehow considered less harmful than other forms of tobacco. While it is true that spit tobacco has none of the hazards of secondhand smoke, it is still quite harmful. Smokeless tobacco is not a safe substitution for smoking. The higher levels of nicotine that are delivered directly to the blood stream are harmful to the user. Oral and stomach cancer rates are high in spit tobacco users. Furthermore, allowing spit tobacco users in the absence of smoking fails to support a sustainable community or a campus that models health and wellness.
When we as students determine that it is important to support a culture of wellness, we elevate our standing as leaders on our campus and throughout our community.
Sincerely,
Robin C.
Community Health Major
Regarding: Tobacco on Campus
Published: Friday, December 5, 2008
Updated: Friday, December 5, 2008
3 comments
Research studies for years have informed us of the health affects of junk foods such as candy, pastries and chips, and also the affects of the high sugar contents and caffeine in sodas, and the affects of high sodium contents in food and beverages as well. All of these contribute to heart disease, stroke, high cholestorol and obesity in our state and country. Heart disease is the number one killer in the United States today.
Since we are so health conscious on the campus, and we appear to care little of the rights of others, smokers and non-smokers alike, AND are campus is so proudly "Green" I think we should just remove all the coffee shops and machines, all the junk foods, energy drinks and sodas, and also all the vending machines on campus. With these machines and areas closed the campus should save a great amount of money on the power bill, and there should be a drop in the amount of refuse produced as well. Not to mention the campus' drain on the power grid would be slightly reduced.
Further we could reduce the amount of paper the university uses and pays for greatly by stopping the publishing of the tabloid the school calls the student newspaper. That's right, very few people read the Vista, and many say it's because it only contains unethical garbage, poor writing and crap.
Eventually, maybe we can even figure out how to make it so we further reduce pollution by figuring out how to make our commuter campus university restrict the rights of the majority of students (all the commuters) to drive their vehicles to school.
Stop seeking to achieve politically correct approval in the name of health consciousness and being green at the cost of individual rights. These initiatives don't represent a democracy, but rather a totalitarian rule.