The Clarion | February 6, 2009
Opinion —
Why tlie smoking areas came to be
The philosophy behind making you freeze to death in isolation to take a puff
by John Climer
Staff Writer
We’ve all seem them. Hud
dled together, white clouds
drifting away from them in the
wind; the way the collective
breaths of a cattle-herd linger
in the air on a cold day. Fmnot
referring to livestock though;
Fm referring to smokers.
What’s the philosophy of
these so-called smoking ar
eas? Do they serve as some
type of passive-aggressive
attempt by the college to pub
licly scorn these people for
their nicotine use?
Should smokers
feel ostracized by
being regulated
to these areas?
Some students
would probably
say yes, while
others might say
no. I leave it to
the reader to decide.
The creation of the smoking
DESIGNATED
SMOKING
AREA
areas does, however, serve
an actual purpose. Consider
ing that it takes an average
cigarette-butt several
decades to decompose,
it makes sense that the
college would require
the use of smoking
areas, since these areas
are furnished with ap
propriate cigarette-butt
disposal receptacles.
Also, considering that
second-hand smoke causes an
estimated 3400 lung-cancer
deaths aimually (according to
the American Lung Associa
tion), the creation of smoking
areas could be an attempt by the
college to isolate the leftover
smoke to these specific areas in
order to minimize the danger to
other students.
Regardless of personal opin
ions, there is a well-intended
philosophy behind the smok
ing areas and adhering to the
college’s tobacco-related prec
edents will save smokers a big
headache in the long-run.
An open letter to BC students, faculty, and
the community from our sports editor...
by Johnny 'Stats' Lange
Sports Editor
Hey y’all,
I have returned from the de
pression of my Big Red losing
the Super Bowl to write once
again. This week however, I
have an important to request
to make to all of you.
First of all, I have to say that
I am very impressed by all of
your support that is shown for
the men’s basketball team.
Having been to a few away
games in the conference, it’s
quite obvious that you have
transformed Boshamer Gym
nasium into a place that our
foes do not want to visit.
The noise that is made at each
game can rattle even the best of
players that the South Atlantic
Conference has to offer. It
has already led to a couple
of “upsets” and Fm sure that
there will be a couple of more
to follow in the remaining
four matchups of the regular
season.
However as I write this letter
to you (on Wednesday after
noon) I am well aware that in
three hours I will walk into a
mostly empty gym. Tragically,
for a majority of the double
headers our teams play, there
is no “home-court advantage”
for our women’s team.
Let me state that I’m not
trying to condemn those who
have classes to attend or a job.
However, I also know there are
many people who can make
both games and simply choose
not to.
This is a trend that has not just
started this year. Even last year,
when the women’s team had
more wins than the men, the
attendance was extremely low
for the first game. So the argu
ment regarding the record of
the women’s team just doesn’t
fly here.
I understand many of the
arguments against women’s
ball; that it’s a slower game,
there are no dunks, and so on.
However, our women’s team
trains and plays just as hard as
the men do, and they deserve
more support than what they
are getting.
This is a situation very simi
lar to what our football team
went through this fall. Both
teams are very young, and
with a young team comes a
lot of losses. However, over
the last couple of games, the
young ladies are getting closer
and closer to pulhng a win out
against a SAC. foe.
Surely the vanquished rivals
of the men’s team weren’t ex
pecting a loss, and there is little
doubt in this writer's mind that
the crowd played a large factor
in the momentum of the game.
It would be nice for the women
to get to experience the same
thriU to play in front of a large
and loud crowd.
So when this issue comes
to print, we will have three
double-headers remaining in
the basketball season. I sin
cerely hope that on the llth,
18th and 21 st of this month the
house wfll be packed for both
the men’s and the women’s
game.
Comic by Karam Boeshaar