From the nanny state to the babysitter campus: Colleges across
the country are making moves to completely ban smoking on school
grounds. While bans on lighting up indoors have been around for
roughly a decade, the
San Francisco Chronicle reports that many
higher education leaders are working to prohibit outdoor smoking
all over campus, from outside of university buildings to school
sidewalks and benches. Schools like University of Missouri-Columbia
and the City University of New York system will soon join over
700
schools nationwide [PDF] that currently have a zero-tolerance
smoking policy.

Advocates of smoke-free colleges, like Americans for Nonsmokers’
Rights (ANSR), argue that universities should play parent for
college students. “[Colleges] are questioning what the role of
tobacco is in academic settings, where we’re supposed to be
standing for truth and training the next generation of leaders,”
said Bronson Frick, associate director of ANSR.

But does campus nannying really count as training? Not according
to Audrey Silk, the founder of New York Citizens Lobbying Against
Smoker Harassment, who tells the Chronicle
that universities are responsible for playing
teacher, not doctor: “Schools are a business,” she says. “It’s
their responsibility to educate. What they’re doing is
indoctrinating.”

“This isn’t a health issue anymore,” Silk adds. “It’s a moral
issue. There’s absolutely zero reason for a smoking ban
outdoors.”

Many of the already smoke-free schools, like University of
Michigan, use a word of mouth campaign to enforce the ban,
meaning if someone catches you sparking up, you could get a harsh
talking to for choosing to smoke on campus.

For more on smoking bans, click here.
And for Motley Crew’s awesomely coiffed take on smokers’ rights,
check out the video below. Because, you know, everybody knows that
smoking ain’t allowed in school.