USA Today reports that 38,000 non-smokers die each year from second hand smoke, along with another 300,000 children who are forced to suffer the effects of pneumonia, asthma, ear infections and bronchitis.

I myself do not smoke. I do however get the effects of inhaling about two cigarettes each day. I live in the McDonald residence hall and upon exiting the building I encounter, on average, about five of my fellow students smoking just outside the door. I often find myself making the remark if I were a smoker, I would end up saving a substantial amount of money on cigarettes, because I could just inhale everyone else’s.

I don’t have a problem with the fact that people smoke, it makes them about 100 percent cooler and it’s entirely their choice. I do however, have a problem with where people smoke. It’s always right outside of the exits, right where everyone has to go in order to go and from place to place. Now I realize that not all smokers smoke right next to the exits, some are actually considerate and smoke away from masses of people, and I thank them for that.

But still there are those who are inconsiderate of others, and prefer to blow smoke right in their faces. For these people contributing to the 38,000 deaths per year and 300,000 illnesses per year, I’ll suggest some possibilities.

Perhaps we could start simply by having the smokers move away from entry ways. Now I realize this wouldn’t work, so perhaps a rule could be created that prohibits smokers from standing right outside of the doors.

I realize some may view this as a bit unfair, so here is another proposal. Build an entirely new residence hall, or designate one that already stands, as a smokers only residence hall. That way they could smoke whenever they wanted without upsetting non-smokers, and they wouldn’t have to stand inside while holding there cigarettes outside the door because of the cold temperatures. That has happened by the way.

Two days after writing this column I became aware of a report by Patricia Alex in The Record newspaper stating that Bergen Community College is expected to vote to ban smoking on its entire 167 acre campus. The article also stated there are actually multiple colleges all over the country that have made the decision to ban smoking on campus. However, most of the schools that made this decision also happened to be smaller colleges, often of the community and commuter variety.

I began to question whether or not something like this would work here at the University. I came to the conclusion that no, it would not. BGSU is a large campus where smoking would easily “slip through the cracks” if it were not allowed. I do believe that since an all smoking residence hall seems like a far fetched idea, that the installment of no-smoking areas, with signs making them easy to identify, would go a long way towards the satisfaction of non-smokers.

But until any action is taken, I’ll offer a simple plea to those of you who smoke. Please don’t smoke right outside of every door because I really don’t want to share your cigarettes with you.