With the freezing weather lately, it’s been harder and harder to muster the courage to walk outside, whether it’s going to class, a club meeting or some other engagement. As the weather gets colder, one notices a sudden drop in people walking outside, which is completely normal of course. The disgusting pattern I have not noticed withering away in the cold, however, is the number of smokers smoking outside.

It makes sense, doesn’t it, given that smoking is a powerful addiction? It’s slightly sad, as well as more than a bit pathetic, to see them huddled away in the cold, unable to simply give it up and go inside. I mean no cruelty; I am just terribly unsatisfied with the situation’s effects on me.

Many will cite personal freedoms to defend a stance where smokers can freely smoke outside buildings around campus. Smokers are free to smoke; that’s undeniable. I don’t care if you smoke, just as long as it doesn’t affect me. But when you, the smoker, choose to create a deep, impenetrable cloud of carcinogens around the most highly visited venues on campus — classes, libraries, restaurants — you’re not upholding your own right to smoke anymore. Now you’re violating my personal right to healthy breathing.

You might think that I am being a bit harsh here, or that there has to be some sort of middle ground. There isn’t.

And that’s because it’s impossible for both desires, the desire to smoke anywhere on campus and the desire to breathe freely everywhere on campus, to be fulfilled at the same time. Since the vast majority of campus, statistically at least, is non-smoking, it’s only rational to respect their rights over the smokers’. Even more than that, it’s actually the only fair thing to do.

So, what exactly am I proposing here? Well, Ohio State, today, is already banning all smoking within buildings. That’s a great first step. What I would love to see next is a complete ban on all smoking on the campus, including all outside areas.OSU would follow other top colleges that decided to propose such measures. The University of Iowa is one; Michigan will be added to the list when it bans smoking on the entire campus in 2011. It may seem a bit much, but in all honesty, the positive health impacts we would receive in return are more than well worth it.