This is getting out of hand. A little more than 53 percent of students support a smoking ban? That justifies the headline: âÄúMost of U would support a campuswide smoking ban?âÄù With a bit of education in economics you learn that it is more relevant how much people support âÄî or donâÄôt support âÄî something than how many people support something. Enacting a campuswide ban on smoking barely, if at all, benefits those who support the ban. But the same ban strips the other 46.4 percent of their rights. Political scientists would call this the âÄútyranny of the majority.âÄù If you must, enforce the rules that keep smokers away from doors. But nothing warrants a campuswide ban. Joseph McCarron University student
Tyranny of the majority
Published December 4, 2008
