Daily Skiff

The opinion piece on the smoking ban is absurd. There is no good argument to allow smoking. Why else are so many cities and universities restricting smoking? To argue that smokers in America have the freedom and right to smoke is not good enough. No argument is. An individual's rights end when he or she begins to interfere with another individual's rights.

For example, a person's right not to breathe in secondhand smoke. Secondhand smoke causes thousands of deaths from heart disease and lung cancer in nonsmokers every year.

And what about students with asthma? Don't they have a right, too? Allowing smoking like that makes it more dangerous for them.

This is an issue that should not just be voted on by the SGA, but by all students, faculty and staff. We are all harmed by it.

If the city of Fort Worth sees that something had to be done, so should TCU. After all, TCU's mission statement is "To educate individuals to think and act as ethical leaders and responsible citizens in the global community."

It is not exactly "ethical" or "responsible" to allow students to harm themselves and those around them.

Melissa Rhodes is sophomore radio-TV-film major from Fort Worth.

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