This country is based on the firm belief of personal rights. These rights, according to
the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution of the United
States, are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. When are these rights taken
away? Supposedly never, but today smokers in Albright College are losing these rights.
The administration at Albright college is taking away our rights. Smokers at Albright
used to be able to smoke in the campus center. I can understand how the smoke would be
offensive to non-smokers and why there would need to be a no smoking area. But I can't
understand why we smokers are forced to go outside to smoke. Are we less human because we
smoke? Why isn't there a place for us to smoke inside? Are we less important because we
choose to smoke. Are we to be discriminated against because we enjoy smoking and find
happiness in little things like a cigarette.
Right now all smokers at Albright are being treated as second class citizens. We are
forced to stand outside in the cold. There are no comfortable seats for us to sit in. We
either sit on the steps or the stone benches. What happened to our right to the pursuit
of happiness? Why should we be forced outside just to smoke a cigarette. It is not right.
We should be able to enjoy a cigarette in comfort. We are entitled to the same treatment
as every other student here at Albright. We are entitled to a comfortable chair when we
want to sit down. It doesn't matter if we want to smoke a cigarette while we're sitting.
The Declaration of Independence says all men are created equal, that they are endowed .
. . with certain unalienable rights . . . among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit
of happiness. The Equal Rights Amendment takes this one step further by saying equality
of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged . . . on account of sex. This
means every single person on this campus has the right to pursue happiness by whatever
legal means they can. If we smokers want to enjoy a cigarette inside then there should be
somewhere that we can. There should be a smoking room. A room where we can go and enjoy a
cigarette without standing in the cold. This is our right as a citizen of the United
States.
Smokers are citizens too. Our rights enable us to smoke inside without having to walk
all the way back to our rooms. They enable us to have a cigarette when we want one.
Albright College should not hinder us from this right. I feel that we smokers should take
steps to ensure our rights are protected. We need to let administration know that they
cannot treat us as second-class. All of us are equal whether they like it or not.
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