University should add more non-smoking rooms

In the past couple of years, the University has successfully instituted several dorms designated as substance-free housing and a very few areas as smoke-free zones.

Given that the vast majority of undergrads on campus are nonsmokers, there seem to me to be several compelling reasons for the University to significantly increase the amount of smoke-free housing available. Almost all of the Ivies, and in fact, most colleges, don't allow smoking in their dorm rooms. Not that the "everybody else is doing it" is ever a good argument for following, but Princeton does seem to be behind the times on this issue.

As all of us who live next to a noisy neighbor or screamer know, the walls of our dorm rooms are quite thin. Via these walls, the doors and particularly through central air and heating vents, smoke passes from one room to the others in the building. Secondhand smoke is an undisputable health hazard, and something no one should be forced to endure.

There's also a general air-quality issue. Even if the smell of cigarette smoke in my hallways may not necessarily directly affect my health, I really don't enjoy having to smell cigarette smoke every time I come to or go from my room, and sometimes even from inside my dorm room.

Thirdly, there's a fire safety issue at hand. For a school that doesn't allow candles in the dorms, even when you cut off the wick, it seems surprising that Princeton would allow smoking in the rooms, particularly considering that cigarette-caused fires are the greatest cause of fire-related deaths in the United States in recent years.

I certainly don't mean to imply that the University ought to take away one's right to smoke cigarettes, or that Public Safety or fire inspectors should be checking our rooms for cigarettes. I would not want that. We are adults and we can make our own decisions about our health, but I do think the University ought to follow suit with the laws of the State of New Jersey and prohibit people from smoking in places where others are unfairly and unwillingly affected. Juan Lessing '05