No longer can smokers find a warm place to smoke, regardless of whether or not they were bothering anyone.

Every day we make choices that define who we are and what kind of lifestyle we lead. Some may decide to go to the bars on Thursday nights. Others might stay in and rent movies.

We also make choices that are potentially harmful to our health. We might eat unhealthy foods. Some might sit on the couch watching TV all week long. And some might decide to drink a little bit more alcohol than what is considered to be “normal.” But these are our choices — nobody can stop us from making them. That’s what America is all about!

However, if you are a smoker, your decision on where you smoke is now greatly affected.

There used to be few places you could smoke at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee: The 8th Note Coffeehouse, the Gasthaus, the recreation center and the second-floor study lounge. These weren’t just places smokers could go to for the sake of smoking; these were also places smokers could go to in order to avoid nasty weather, especially in the wintertime.

Last year, the Physical Services Committee recommended banning smoking in the Union. This proposal was then forwarded to Chancellor Carlos Santiago, but he recommended it go to the Union Policy Board instead.

The board passed the proposal unanimously on Friday, thereby eliminating smoking in the Union. No longer can smokers find a warm place to smoke, regardless of whether or not they were bothering anyone.

Smokers must now go outside in order to smoke. Starting July 1, they will also be required to be 30 feet away from any building.

Whether you are a smoker or not, smokers deserve an indoor smoking environment. The places where smokers were allowed to go were very confined. If you didn’t want to inhale the secondhand smoke, you didn’t have to go to the smoking section of the Gasthaus or the second-floor lounge (the 8th Note is a little bit trickier, but if you were that bothered by the smoke, you could always get a coffee to go or buy a coffee somewhere else).

Conversely, if you were in the Union in a place where smoking wasn’t allowed, you didn’t smell smoke. It was also very hard to smell smoke in the non-smoking section of the Gasthaus.

We shouldn’t treat smokers any different just because they are doing something detrimental to their health. If we use those grounds alone for banning smoking, would we also limit where people can sit down and eat a fatty meal?

Starting April 1, many smokers are going to start asking those questions. But eventually, they will realize it’s not a cruel April Fool’s joke.

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