­­­­­Maybe it’s time students took to the streets.

Not in a burn-cars-and-couches riot in the street, but a normal stroll down Rose Street, Euclid and South Limestone should work just fine. On and after Nov. 19, those will become the new, unofficial smoking areas for UK’s campus.

With UK’s effort to get campus tobacco-free by Nov. 19, any UK property, including sidewalks, will be required to be tobacco-free.

Not just close quarters, where smoke could be hazardous, but also fields, parking lots and other open-air areas. Not because using tobacco decreases learning capabilities. Not because doing so would fight attrition and help enrollment, nor will it help lower the cost of tuition (although we may see a lot less students around if they can’t smoke).

In order to continue the role of Big Brother that UK so easily plays, officials are rolling out a tobacco ban at the flagship university in a state that would be crippled economically if it weren’t for tobacco.

Some UK students and alumni are tobacco farmers. UK grows tobacco itself. Yes, the implications of a tobacco ban could increase the health of students, faculty and staff. But so could getting rid of the greasy food at Commons and K-Lair?

The UK administration loves to pick and choose their battles with little regard to the students who actually walk this campus everyday.

In a Monday Kernel news story, Ellen Hahn, co-chair of the Tobacco-Free Task Force, said students found violating the ban will be asked in a “kind, firm” way to stop using their tobacco product on campus. Because the best way to get an addicted tobacco user to drop their habit is to just ask.

Hahn also said the Student Code of Conduct — UK’s preferred method of enforcement for the ban — wouldn’t punish anyone who claims ignorance or forgot about the policy.

“We want to create a culture of compliance,” Hahn said in the article. “And given that very few people use tobacco products on our campus, I think that’s very doable.”

Allowing students to claim ignorance or forgetfulness is not compliance. Acting like a majority of students don’t smoke is ignorance itself.

UK administration has given itself plenty of wiggle room by using the student code of conduct as their punishment, while also allowing themselves plenty of room for error.  If Hahn sees a student smoking, will she march that student to the dean’s office? Or will she buy an excuse if the student simply says “Oops, I forgot.”?

Maybe it will take students walking in the streets on and around campus and smoking in large groups to make UK realize that it’s nowhere near being ready to enforce a campus-wide tobacco-free plan.

Or that such a plan doesn’t make much sense at all.