Just a few days ago, during Intro to Anthropology, I learned about a culture whose members drink semen. They believe that the bodily fluid makes them stronger, so they are sure to begin consumption at a young age. I sat in class, somewhat puzzled but strangely fascinated. Before coming to Brandeis, this practice may have seemed utterly incomprehensible. But sitting in class the other day, I realized that I have learned a great deal about tolerance this semester. I can accept people who live thousands of miles away and have a completely different diet.

My newfound tolerance even extends to our own culture. For example, I have always been taught that smoking is bad for you. It kills your lungs. It clogs your arteries. It gives you cancer. I've seen lots of commercials and ads. I've had health class every year since sixth grade. And my mother. But just like the semen-ingesting culture, I have learned to accept the fact that people have different practices. I can accept smoking as valid. Because really, we all have our own unhealthful practices, and we all make our own choices. I happen not to smoke and don't plan on starting, but on the other hand, I eat incredibly unhealthful foods and rarely exercise.

Before I continue, let's be clear that no one should criticize a smoker for smoking. It's not our place, and often, it may be hypocritical to do so.

But there's one thing that I cannot ever tolerate. There is one thing that we can, and should criticize: secondhand smoke.

Secondhand smoke causes many of the same diseases that actual smoking does. I'm not going to get into the gory details, but suffice to say that it's really, really unhealthy. And it smells bad.

There is one place on campus where I, as well as many other students, find secondhand smoke to be a huge problem. Anyone who takes a class in North Academic Quad has experienced the dreadful walk on the path between the Usdan Student Center and the Goldfarb Library. For some reason, a great number of smokers at Brandeis have chosen this spot to exhale during the busiest traffic hours of the day.

So what can be done about this? I turned to the Rights and Responsibilities Handbook to check on our school's official policy regarding smoking. After searching online, I found that rule 5.1 states that students may not smoke within 30 feet of the entrance to a building: "Those who use any tobacco products must show respect for the community, and are expected to comply with reasonable requests from other members of the community regarding their exposure to second hand smoke."

But really, as I read about how one is to actually enforce this rule, I realized that this cute handbook carries little weight. Good job to whoever wrote it; it is very comprehensive and contains an enormous amount of detail. But in order to report someone for an offense, there is a stack of paperwork to fill out and as many meetings to attend. So basically, the handbook is unenforceable on a practical level.

But it's more than just an inability to punish. Really, most student handbooks are unenforceable because from my experience, students always seem to act the way they deem acceptable, and any rules and restrictions are of little concern. High school and college handbooks theoretically have the students' best interests in mind when they write their policies. But smoking on campus brings to light one aspect of a greater point: People don't follow school rulebooks because they have common sense.

And that's totally OK. Sometimes rulebooks contain rules that are totally obvious. Take rule 6.2, for instance, which says: "A student is expected and required to respect, maintain, and care for the property of others." And sometimes rule books are simply ridiculous, like rule 5.3, which says, "No student under the legal drinking age of 21 is allowed to possess or consume alcoholic beverages on campus."

What this comes down to is a humble request: All we can do is ask for some respect. Smokers, you are free to smoke. You can even do it within 30 feet of the entrance to a building. Anyone who tries to stop you from doing that is just plain stupid. But please, please do not smoke in such densely populated areas and at such busy times during the day.

For the sake of our own time, we are not going to hold the rules over your head. All we can do is ask you to show some decency.