Gone are the days of stepping out the doors on the Georgia Highlands College campus into a huge cloud of cigarette smoke. By now most people have heard about or encountered the new smoking policy in place on campus.

Smoking is a nasty addiction and everyone knows the dangers of smoking, including those who choose to smoke. However, it is a lifestyle choice, and if that is how a person chooses to live, that is his or her decision, but it shouldn't affect the health of those who choose not to.

While many non-smokers are pleased with the change, the policy can also be seen as a little extreme.

There have always been complaints pertaining to smokers hanging out next to the doorways. However, that is where the benches and cigarette cans were located, so of course smokers did not see anything wrong with where they were standing.

The problem of smokers congregating around the doorways could have easily been solved by moving the cans and benches away from the doors. Something such as a designated smoking area could have solved the problem while leaving both smokers and non-smokers adequately satisfied.

As the new policy states, smokers are now only allowed to smoke in their vehicles, but there are several students who smoke who do not own a vehicle and must utilize other forms of transportation to and from school. Where do these people go?

The smokers pay the same tuition as non-smokers do, so a decision such as this should have been voted on by everyone it affected, which would be the student body and faculty.

Being able to walk out the doors immediately into the fresh air is a wonderful thing. It just seems that if the college were so concerned about the health risks of secondhand smoke, then it wouldn't have put the cigarette cans by the doors in the first place.

Moving the smokers away from the doors was definitely a wise decision in order to maintain the health of students and the environment. However, the decision making process and the final decision should have been handled with more concern for student opinion.