Vaping vs. Smoking — The Differences on a College Campus

By: Amanda Benson:

Banning the use of “vaping” from the Assumption College campus and the uproar heard among students is the talk of the college. Many believe while tobacco and cigarette use is allowed, banning vapes doesn’t make much sense. What are your thoughts? 

When students interviewed were asked whether or not the school should be equal by banning of vaping as well as tobacco or just let people do what they please, the answers were trended towards letting students and faculty do what they want. According to the interview below of senior Abigail McKanna, she states the rules need to be the same for all.

The school’s reasoning for the ban of vaping is they could “explode” says Assumption College Senior RA, Cullen. Students in the “Valley” have stated if you aren’t allowed to have candles and vape in the rooms, but can have cigarettes then that means you must have a lighter to light your cigarettes as well. This contradicts the schools motives to keep the students and buildings safe. The reasoning given from the RA’s and from students are wide-ranging and it doesn’t seem like the school is going to be pushing to move anything around and the way things are now are likely to stay this way for a while. The new rise of vaping in this society seems to have “stumped” higher education and with more sources coming out. This is going to be an extensive investigation in order to create equality among students and faculty on campus.

A poll was collected on Twitter, which consisted of a total of 44 votes, had a total of 68% of the voters saying that people should be able to vape and smoke on campus, while 32% of the voters believe that all types of smoking should be banned, cigarettes included.

Picture taken from Amanda Benson’s Twitter Poll

The reasoning colleges and higher officials have warned people to steer clear of vaping and e-cigarettes is because according to Inside HigherEd, they were created to help ween smokers in a simpler way and as an alternate. They were not created to be a fun alternative for teens and children alike. This opens up a whole new pot of worms and higher education officials are trying to put a stop to this up and coming trend.