The new fenced-off smoking section near Petty Road at the edge of campus has some students feeling caged and imprisoned.
“I feel like an animal in here; I can’t even see outside of it,” said McKenzie Peterson, a communications and criminology major.
Steven Eastes, a freshman architecture major, said he feels a sense of imprisonment when he uses the new smoking area. He said it feels like he's being punished.
“It makes it seem like it is almost a crime to smoke,” Eastes said, “especially when you make an area like this.”
Austin Danielson, a sophomore advertising major, said the smoking area even has a nickname: "The Box." He said now that he's gotten used to the size, it really isn't as much of an issue as the lack of seating is.
"They could put some benches or something. It'd be nice, but I get it," Danielson said. "It's still moderately inconvenient. When you come back from class you just want to sit down and have a smoke."
Joan Todd, Ball State spokesperson, said the area in the far corner of campus is equal to three parking spaces and is enough to keep people safe and neighbors happy. She said it balances student health and keeps options available for everyone.
“It’s a sensible solution that maintains our commitment to a healthy campus while granting an option for people who haven’t managed to kick the habit just yet,” Todd said.
In a previous story, Talia Bannon, a resident of Petty Road and a senior fashion merchandising major, said she is happy the university has designated a smoking section. Bannon said many students have used her property as a place to smoke in the three years she has lived there.
“My roommate can’t keep her windows open at all," Bannon said. "If she cracks them open, our whole house smells like smoke."
Peterson said she doesn't see the point in Ball State making a smoking section. Even though she is a smoker, she thinks the new area is unnecessary, she said.
"This is honestly useless, especially since this is a smoke-free campus," Peterson said.
But even though she isn't a fan of the area and it's small, she still feels a sense of community in the section, she said.
“I make tons of friends being around here; it’s kind of cool,” she said.
Danielson said the smoking section is necessary because of the large student body at Ball State. The addition of the area is like an agreement between the university and the students, that now that smokers have a designated section they will stay in it, he said.
"I feel like it's necessary. You can’t have that many students of all demographics, especially students from different countries where smoking is the norm, and expect them not to smoke," Danielson said. "I don’t feel like it contradicts [the smoke-free campus policy], because this is a smoking area off in the corner."
Before the smoking section was added, Danielson would smoke as far away from campus as possible, standing on the road, the back ends of parking lots and on top of the parking garages.
Read our previous coverage of the new smoking area here.
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