Portland State University's off-campus smoking ban

Among the things it claims to value, right up there with "learning and discovery" and "openness and reflection," Portland State University lists "a climate of mutual respect." PSU, then, would surely -- surely! -- be loath to prohibit an unpopular minority from engaging in a perfectly legal activity in a manner that harms no one else. And as for seeking such a prohibition on other people's property, forget about it, right?

 Just kidding! Mutual respect doesn't apply to smokers. Everyone knows that. Thus has PSU approached Portland Parks & Recreation about banning cancer sticks in the South Park Blocks in the middle the campus. PSU manages this chunk of the Park Blocks, mowing the grass and maintaining trees, says university spokesman Scott Gallagher. But the city owns the land, a detail that would complicate any push to create a tolerance-free zone for smokers.

Thank goodness for that. Gallagher says the potential ban is an extension of PSU's healthy campus initiative, which has drawn a bead on smoking. Also, campus surveys indicate that 75 percent of students would like PSU's campus to become smoke-free. An even greater percentage would probably like PSU to become tuition-free. But popular ideas don't always make good policy. Anyway, why should a smoker who has no connection to PSU have to snuff out his cigarette while strolling the Park Blocks near campus? Some, no doubt, would argue that even fleeting exposure to second-hand smoke in an open-air environment is dangerous, but we're not buying that.

Dosage matters. Others might point to littering, which, though wrong, is something many nonsmokers do, too. Ultimately, though, the push would have little to do with actual harm, either to bystanders or to the environment. Instead, it would be a naked expression of socially acceptable intolerance. Which is why Portland Parks & Recreation should remind PSU that the Park Blocks are not a part of the university's campus and won't go smoke-free. Students and others who don't approve of smoking can always give smokers a wide berth. Respectfully, of course.