It’s an undeniable fact that smoking is bad for you. Research has linked tobacco use and secondhand smoke to cancer, lymphoma and several other health problems.

This is not a subject of dispute; however, in recent years, there have been arguments about whether or not health concerns are reason enough to enact enforceable bans against smoking.

Many places in Austin have already won the battle against tobacco use in public. Smoking is no longer allowed in most bars and restaurants, and city ordinance requires that smokers be 15 feet away from building entrances when lighting up.

Smoking in public has also become a hot button issue for many college campuses.

Texas State University and the University of Texas at Arlington banned smoking on their campuses on Aug. 1.  Huston-Tillotson University put a policy in place in April, and starting in January, Austin Community College will be smoke-free as well.

It’s easy enough to sit back and look at statistics and facts about places that aren’t your own college campus, but the campaign to ban smoking on college campuses has finally hit home.

The Student Government Association has been actively surveying students on campus about whether St. Edward’s University should enact its own smoking ban. You’ve probably seen SGA representatives in Ragsdale, trying to hand you a flyer, or perhaps you’ve received a link to a survey online, asking for your opinion on the matter.

One could argue that SGA is taking a more proactive role in gathering student opinion, with a lot of effort and energy being put to the cause, but is a smoke-free campus really the issue they should be investigating?

When all is said and done, despite the association’s good intentions, SGA does not have final say over whether smoking will be banned on campus. That decision is ultimately up to the school administrators. This is not to say that the voice of the student body will go unheard, but in this case, student opinion cannot directly affect policy.

SGA should definitely continue researching to find out how students feel about smoking, but the association should avoid putting all its eggs in one tobacco basket.

Student government has much bigger issues to tackle, and with SGA’s protocol and the limited time in a school year, there’s a short window of space in which to get things accomplished. That time should be spent on more pertinent concerns.

When was the last time anyone asked students what we really thought about tuition? Here’s a hint: we think it’s too high.

What are students really dissatisfied with? Certainly the whole student body isn’t concerned about where students smoke on campus, which means that this issue isn’t very representative of what students want, the reason why SGA is here.