Nursing school's no smokers policy

Last night Cindy was later than ever coming home from Nursing school. As I have talked about before this particular nursing school is different than a regular college in that you don't "pick" your classes and times to be at school. This school starts at 8:00 AM and goes until 5:00 PM Monday through Friday. Cindy has always been home by five, many times even as early as one thirty, we just never know. In another couple weeks,clinicals at the hospital nearest the school will start and she will not be done until seven or so. For this reason Cindy only works weekends so it has not been a problem. Still though I was a little shaky yesterday when I had not heard from her( she calls as she is leaving to let me know what's going on so I can plan and we don't start eating dinner five minutes before she gets home )When she got home I casually asked why so late ?I was told that there was some commotion after lunch before classes resumed and six students ( Cindy was not included)were in open conference with teachers and administrators, which delayed the start of class. Cindy went on to tell me why these students initiated this meeting.It seems that there are a group of smokers in the class, who congregate outside during breaks.( Since Cindy doesn't smoke I understand why she wasn't involved ) IT seems that one of the administration was walking by as one student was smoking. The administrator reminded this student that there was a no smoking policy, which the woman accepted, but what the administrator said next had this woman and then all of the smokers fighting mad. The administrator went on to say that if this woman was still smoking she should immediately withdraw from the program while she could still get a small portion of her tuition back.The administrator reminded that at orientation, it was stated that the Hospital that Clinicals are being done at is a non smoking campus and that in addition to the run of the mill drug tests that many use, this facility also tests for nicotine. These smokers denied that this was ever said at orientation and obviously felt wronged. Especially since they are currently in the process of sending two or three a day to be drug tested. Cindy didn't know what had happened at the meeting, whether the school would gave them a week or so to quit smoking or what but felt sorry for these people.
I personally felt no pity because I was at orientation with Cindy back in May. She didn't have a drivers licence back then and each accepted student was allowed to bring someone with them anyway and since Cindy was only seventeen, they preferred me there. I remember this issue being discussed and I remember them informing everyone that a positive nicotine screen would cause you to be excluded from Clinicals and no clinicals equals failure. Cindy sort of recalled once I quoted what was said but said that she knew that it didn't pertain to her so she didn't give it much thought.
This became a family discussion as I finished dinner and we all sat at the table to eat. I feel that this is good because I am tired of going places in the rain, especially a hospital, doctors office, or other medical place and seeing a mass of people by the door huddled to stay warm and dry as they smoke. There is always the big old cloud that all , even those with lung problems,have to walk through to get medical attention. This has irked me for years. Worse yet,You go into the bathroom at one of these places to a smoke cloud, Not cool ! Furthermore, these people want to be nurses. Nurse's lift people, work in close contact with people , etc. Nobody wants to smell stale smoke as they are sick and being worked on. These woman are complaining that their rights are being infringed on but what about the rights of the sick ? I don't know what will happen here, if they will be given a chance to quit before clinicals start or if they will be given the option to sit out until the next class when they will have had time to quit or whether the school will simply stick to the rules to suspend them for a positive drug test. Either way, I support the Nurses should not smoke movement.