Students seeking to CornellCard cigarettes at the expense of those paying their bursar bill have found themselves out of luck this year. Unlike last year, cigarettes are no longer sold in any of the stores that fall under the jurisdiction of the university.
According to Ken Eustice, manager of the Cornell Store, the university decided to stop selling cigarettes for the “overall health and safety” of Cornell students. An added benefit to the discontinuation of cigarette sales was the hope that such a move would “reduce mess on campus,” according to Eustice.
Eustice was supportive of the university’s decision, stating “Kids would buy two or three packs at a time with their CornellCard. I would kill my daughter if she did that.”
Susan Murphy, vice President for student and academic services, agreed with Eustice. “Personal opinion — I’d say good,” Murphy said.
Cornell students had varying reactions to the university’s decision. “It’s easy to find other places to buy them,” said one anonymous smoker.
Another student, non-smoker Elizabeth Davies ’07, was critical of the university’s decision to stop selling cigarettes. “It doesn’t allow people to practice a legal activity. They are a widely used item, and obviously there’s a need for them that the university isn’t meeting.”
While students may not be able to buy their cigarettes at campus stores, the product is widely available in Collegetown convenience stores and at Louie’s Lunch.
International Tobacco & News, located on Dryden Rd. in Collegetown, carries a wide variety of cigarettes, but has not noticed any change in sales. “We’re mainly getting the same people coming in,” a salesperson told The Sun.
Similarly, a vendor at Louie’s Lunch noted that sales were “no more then normal.”
As for Eustice at the Campus Store, he said, “It’s not going to stop the problem, but it helps.”
Archived article by Sarah Van Duyn