Public Speaking Essays Examples

Smoking Should Be Banned On Our Campus

Self-harming behaviour has been widely studied, and though this may sound quite intriguing, the cause for starting at a young age can be attributed to their environment and influence. Cigarette smoking is nothing new and one doesn’t need rocket science to know what can happen if a person continued to smoke. Because there has been so much of discussions and debates on the pros and cons of cigarette smoking among youngsters, colleges have started to clamp down on smoking in campuses.

Summary - I

Dickinson, in Tobacco Use On College Campuses: Should Smoking Be Banned?, states that the war on tobacco has got to colleges and a number of colleges nationwide are looking to ban cigarette smoking in campuses. It is no secret that despite the awareness smoking and tobacco has on health; it continues to be a major public health concern. The effects of smoking are well documented, and there is enough information on this topic readily available, yet, people continue to be lured into using these dangerous, habit-forming products. “Smoking causes cancer, cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, and is the single-most factor underlying preventable death and disease in the United States” (Dickinson).

Evidence

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDCP), cigarette smoking has contributed to four-hundred forty thousand deaths in the United States annually. Despite this, millions of people continue to use tobacco and tobacco products.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention claims that more deaths occur from tobacco use each year, than by deaths recorded from HIV, illegal drug use, alcohol use, motor vehicle injuries, suicides, and murders (Dickinson).
According to the American Cancer Association, second- hand smoke in the United States alone is responsible for an estimated forty-two thousand deaths from heart diseases among non-smokers, and second-hand smoke is also a reason why three thousand four hundred lung cancer deaths in non-smoking adults occurred (Dickinson).

Rationale

The reason for choosing Dickinson’s Tobacco Use on College Campuses: Should Smoking Be Banned?, is because the report directly deals with campus issues, and offers solutions to the problem of smoking in campuses. By portraying the harmful effects on second-hand smokers, Dickinson’s report gives impetus to why smoking should be banned in campuses (Dickinson). Dickinson says the use of e-cigarettes could be one way to minimize the effect of smoking, and introducing smoke-free zones can dissuade students from smoking in campuses. A third method would be to introduce smoke-free legislation whereby the reduction of cigarette consumption and promotion of quitting among adults can be achieved.

Summary - II

Railey’s Smoking Bans: Tobacco-Free College Campuses on Rise in US, talks about the success of the all-out prohibition of tobacco products in campuses. She names a number of institutions that have introduced policies barring smoking and tobacco because of the emergence of the “near tipping point.” The smoke-free movement on college campuses received a major boost when a report by the US Surgeon General flagged second-hand smoke as risky at any exposure level. This seems to have had an outstanding effect on non-smokers who have taken the lead to ask smokers to stop smoking in campuses.
Evidence
In one year, till January 2012, the number of US colleges and universities with total smoking bans rose from four hundred sixty-six to six hundred forty-eight, according to the group Americans for Non-smokers’ Rights. One hundred twenty-six schools have introduced smoke-free policies to all areas of campus (Railey).
Around forty-five million or almost twenty percent of all American adults smoke cigarettes, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Out of twenty-seven thousand seven-hundred and seventy-four students surveyed at forty-four two- and four-year colleges, close to five percent smoked every day in the past 30 days, reported an American College Health Association in 2011, and at least fourteen percent students smoked once in the past thirty days.
Kentucky, which has one of the highest rates of adult smoking in the county at twenty-five percent, saw a considerable dip in smokers after the campus ban. Since the ban began, eleven campus tobacco users on an average in a month, sought to quit smoking, compared to just three before the ban (Railey).

Rationale

The reason for choosing this article is because of the focus of health issues affecting students exposed to second-hand smokers. She has deliberately shown why colleges across the country have taken the rigid step to crack down on smokers on campuses and why it is important for non-smoking students to take the initiative to prevent smokers from chocking others on the campus. This is a great way to prevent the spread and growth of smokers in colleges. By focusing on the smoke-free movement on college campuses in 2006 and how they (smokers) caused second-hand smokers risks, it had the desired effect on non-smokers in colleges. They stepped in and ensured that smokers had to go out of the campuses to smoke.

Summary - III

Amerando, Craig and Hans’ An Evaluation of a University-Based Smoking Policy: A Student Research Project, talks about awareness, compliance, and satisfaction as central constructs to a smoking policy. In their study, an evaluation of three hundred upper division classes of undergraduate health education majors, faculty, and staff was conducted. Eighty-one percent of respondents were aware of the twenty-five feet smoking policy, and only ten percent of them stated that they complied with the policy at all times. Recommendations were necessary to increase awareness and to build a more consistent policy.
Evidence
Smoking results in the death of one in five in the United States; which is roughly four hundred and thirty-eight thousand deaths a year. In1986, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a report on the dangers of second-hand tobacco smoke, and in 2006, confirmed that second-hand smoke caused premature death and disease in children and adults who did not smoke (Amerando, Craig and Hans).
The Center for Disease Control and Prevention 2006 stated that there were currently twenty-nine percent men and nineteen percent of women in the age group of eighteen to twenty-four who smoked (Amerando, Craig and Hans)..
The national average for number of students who smoke on college campuses is approximately twenty-nine percent (Amerando, Craig and Hans)..

Rationale

The purpose for choosing this paper was to; first, evaluate a newly implemented restrictive smoking policy, and two; show students who were aware of the smoking policy on campus, how a smoke-free campus environment could effectively make the campus smoke-free.

Summary - IV

Hill’s article CUNY: Smoke-free is the way college should be can be said to be a warning note sent out to college students who intend to attend the country’s largest urban public university, the City University of New York (CUNY), that they are not welcome to smoke on its twenty-three college campuses throughout New York City. The board of trustees of CUNY extended the 1995 tobacco policy that forbids smoking inside their campuses. The tobacco industry was also prohibited from advertising on campus sites and sponsoring athletic events.

Evidences

CUNY’s four hundred sixty-six colleges and universities across the nation plan to become completely tobacco free.
The sanction will protect the health of CUNY students, faculty, and staff, and shield eighty-five percent of CUNY’s non-smokers from the toxic effects of second-hand smoke.

Banning smoking in public areas on campuses will curb addiction and reduce the likelihood of non-smokers take up smoking (Hill).

Rationale
The reason for selecting this newspaper article was that it was different from the other scholarly sources that I used. Also, by posting such a direct feed, the country’s largest urban public university, the City University of New York was making it obvious that they were taking smoking seriously, and didn’t want their premises to be a source for the spread of smokers in the country.

Summary - V

Fisher in California Colleges Enforce Smoke-Free Campuses says that students are fed up of smoke on campuses and have started to spearhead efforts to stop the growth of smoke screens in their colleges. There is a popular movement among students to get the practice off campus.

Evidences

The Cabrillo College in Aptos, Ohlone College in Fremont, San Joaquin Delta College in Stockton and Woodland Community College in Woodland, California, banned smoking in their campuses.
The reason for this is because “You have to walk through a cloud of smoke to get anywhere on campus,” echoed Associated Student President, Araz Pourmorad. “There are cigarette butts all over the campus.”
Rationale
There was no way of completing the essay without a positive note. When a number of colleges across the country are trying to ban smoking in campuses, the role of students to assist in this effort needs to be commended. Therefore, Fisher’s article, California Colleges Enforce Smoke-Free Campuses provides hope to non-smoking students who find themselves at the receiving end of unhealthy campus practices.

Works Cited

Amerando, Chelsea, Craig M Becker, and Hans Johnson. 'An Evaluation of a University-
Based Smoking Policy: A Student Research Project'. American Journal of Health Studies 25.2 (2010): 111-116. Print.
Dickinson, Hayley. 'Tobacco Use On College Campuses: Should Smoking Be Banned?'
Digitalcommons.wou.edu. N.p., 2014. Web. 7 Apr. 2015.
Fisher, Marla Jo. 'California Colleges Enforce Smoke-Free Campuses.’ Community College
Hill, Selena. 'CUNY: Smoke-Free Is The Way College Should Be'. New York Amsterdam
News 102.4 (2015): 3. Print.
Railey, Kimberly. 'Smoking Bans: Tobacco-Free College Campuses on Rise in US'.
Christian Science Monitor (2012): 1. Print.