Column by Wesley Robinson

Believe it or not, I actually felt sorry for those affected by the tobacco ban — that is, until today’s protest.

As a non-tobacco using individual with a smoke allergy, that may seem farfetched, but the way UK has handled the ban has left me a little salty toward the whole situation. There’s just something about imposing a ban without any sort of compromise that rubs me the wrong way.

Don’t get me wrong, the campus-wide ban is better for the university as a whole, but UK should have implemented a strategic plan that looked at incrementally implementing a tobacco ban, with gradual steps and goals for reducing tobacco use.

It sounds sappy, but if campus is being pushed toward compliance, being provided the necessary resources, the larger collective success grows — instead of forming groups of angry individuals as Thursday’s protest displayed.

A very nice lady in the mailroom at the UK Hospital has shared her concerns with me about the ban more and more as doomsday approached and I could tell how serious the ban is to the smokers. But her outlook is more thoughtful and makes more sense than anything I’ve heard from the anti-smoking: “a cigarette isn’t worth my job.”

And she is right, it isn’t.

I want smokers to be selfish. Think about yourselves and stop fighting a ban UK was set on carrying out, and realize one cigarette, a pack or a lifetime of smoking is not worth one’s job, but it’s also not worth one’s education — in fact, it’s not all that important in the grand scheme of things.

Thursday, UCLA approved a 32 percent increase in its tuition over the next two years to counterbalance the huge budget-shortfall California is experiencing. Students revolted in a nationally covered protest.

Even though UK and Kentucky are in similar budget crises, somehow, I doubt there will be the same vigor to fight a perspective tuition hike as there was with the tobacco protest. Then there’s other student-relevant issues like health care and the failing economy we are preparing to enter.

There are several students who protested that will be active in many other meaningful causes, but the fact remains that issues that actually matter pose a huge stumbling for students.