Choices are one of the reasons that make America great.But if you attend Widener University, your choices are limited, including not being allowed to smoke on campus. According to Philly.com, “Widener became the first four-year school in Pennsylvania to go not just smoke-free but tobacco-free, adopting a simple, stringent policy: No cigarettes, no cigars, no cigarillos, no pipes, no hookahs, no pinch between the cheek and gum.”

Here at Temple, that would never fly. I don’t smoke. In fact, I hate the smoke of others flying in my face, stinging my eyes and burning my nostrils. But to ban that freedom seems not only extraordinarily stringent, but silly.

But that is what choice is in America. The choice to study at research institutions, like Temple, and the choice to avoid socialist-like schools, like Widener.