gordonbabe - there is not a ban on alcohol on campus. There is an open container ban in Chapel Hill, which means it is the responsibility of the Chapel Hill police to enforce the laws barring the consumption of alcohol outside on public property. People are allowed to consume alcohol on campus as long as they are following local and state laws - i.e. they are over 21 and not outside on public property. The only additional rule on campus is that students over the age of 21 cannot consume alcohol in the presence of others under 21. Some students break the open container ban, and they are frequently cited and/or arrested. You are just as likely to find a soda can in the brush as you are a beer can, and to be honest I don't see very many of either on campus. But I do see a lot of cigarette buts.

This citation policy will not clog the courts anymore than speeding tickets or any other citation issued on campus.

mpheels....like I said give them a spot to smoke at. The ones that enter and don't smoke should be fined or thrown in jail. If I wanna smoke crack it should be my civil right. I am so tired of unmoral people trying to run this world for us moral people.

First off, the 100 foot rule is not "law" anywhere. It is UNC policy, nothing more. It is up to the university to enforce it, as in UNC police, not Chapel Hill police. If they start trying to clog up the Orange County courthouse with hundreds of smoking citations, the judges are going to get mad, and tell the university to handle it themselves. And as they have no court system of their own, outside of the student Honor Court, that may be a bit difficult to do.

My husband and I will start abiding by this policy when they start enforcing the years(if not decades)-old ban of alcohol on campus. For those who say they do enforce it, ask my husband how many beer cans and bottles he picks up every day

The party line on this issue is health, and health is certainly the primary concern, but there are other issues involved too.

For starters many smokers (not all) were too lazy to put the buts in the ashtrays provided or pocket them until they could put them in the trash. The ban will save money in facilities maintenance b/c less time will be spent picking up buts. Time/money savings were a major motivator for making the dorms smoke free a few years ago as the switch reduced the need to scrub walls b/t residents. Sorry for the spelling of cigarette waste, the censor only allows 1 T in but.

Another major issue is the general appearance of campus. It just looks bad to have 10-15 people standing around the library entrance smoking. It makes it look like the majority of students smoke (when it's really about 26%) and it's a turn off for potential students and their families when they visit campus.

I think that there should be a smoking section to all schools and businessess and ones that are not smoking in those designated areas should be fined also. That should be the law. I think handicapped people who park in my good parking spaces should be fined since I can't park in their spaces.