To the Editor:
Regarding "Butt Out of Dartmouth's Affairs" (The Dartmouth, May 20) -- Neil Resnick and Juan Carlos Serna call for an effort to reduce the prevalence of smoking on campus and for the College to divest itself of its tobacco stocks by the way of sending a message to the students. Both of these calls are well-meaning. However, neither reflects any significant understanding of the issues involved.
To start with the second point made in the column, tobacco divestiture will have no impact on the smoking habits of Dartmouth students. Had the "messages" of the administration ever affected student behavior, drinking would not have the prevalence that it does on campus. Whether the College attacks or defends smoking is irrelevant. Students will smoke or refrain from doing so regardless of administration policy on the issue.
As to the noble efforts to reverse the increase in smoking among students, the authors stray, despite the sincerity of their concerns, into an extraordinarily condescending position. "The deadly effects of smoking" are well-known to all Dartmouth students, including the ones who smoke. If there is a student on campus who does not believe that cigarettes cause cancer, I would be very much surprised.
The logical conclusion is that those students who smoke have made a conscious decision to do so despite the health risks. As all but a pittance have reached the legal smoking age, that decision is no one's business but their own.
With the release of the extensive seven-year survey conducted by the World Health Organization, proving, much to the WHO's dismay, that proximity to second-hand smoke does not increase the likelihood of cancer or heart disease, no one can justifiably argue that smokers hurt anyone but themselves.
Given that the school has already banned smoking in all public areas, non-smokers' concerns have been fully addressed, and then some. To be blunt, whether or not Dartmouth students smoke is their own choice, and they're old enough to make it without any self-righteous advice.
