Though attention has been drawn to the request of some to ban smoking on campus, there are others who feel that smoking should be allowed - at least in certain areas.
"There should be designated areas to smoke," said Megan Sughrue.
Even though she has asthma and said she could not breathe when she is around smoke, she said, "Where are people supposed to go if they banned smoking?"
Statistics on secondhand smoking would favor some sort of ban on the Queens College campus, as smoking poses some risk of cancer to those who are around it on a regular basis.
However, it is all contingent on inhalation, frequency and dose. In 2002, the International Agency for Research on Cancer, of the World Health Organization, concluded, "There is sufficient evidence that involuntary smoking (exposure to secondhand or 'environmental' tobacco smoke) causes lung cancer in humans. ... Involuntary smoking is carcinogenic to humans."
"You're going to deal with that wherever you are," said smoker Kasun Wong. He said a ban on campus would be ridiculous and that people should get used to smoking and avoid it if they do not want to be around it.
When it came to non-smokers being uncomfortable or inconvenienced by smokers, Wong said it did not really matter to him because it's his personal choice to smoke and theirs to inhale it.
"My girlfriend hates smoking," said Wong. "I still smoke."
"If they did have a ban, they would piss off a lot of people," said Jennifer Timmes.
On the other hand, Timmes pointed out that there is no shortage of places for smokers to go off campus. "Smokers can walk freely and smoke wherever. It's not like there is a fight for personal space," she said.
Another student, Tom Negron, said the arguments of those attempting to have smoking banned on campus are weak.
"There are other bad things in the air aside from secondhand smoke, like car exhaust," he said. "Smokers are just easier to go after, obviously."
Currently, the Health Services Center offers students nicotine replacement programs that involve both patches and chewing gum.
Even Jack Ku admitted being addicted. He said smoking has proven to be a release in his life and that smokers have a saying about quitting.
"'I've quit a million times," said Ku. He said even if he stopped smoking, other people would be smoking, so he does not bother to. "I can't save the world."
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