Picture a dimly lit, smoke-hazed room, with the sounds of some live band wafting through the air.

Take away the smoky haze, and what do you have? The M-Shop, if certain Memorial Union Board of Directors members have their way.

The Board will vote on the M-Shop’s smoking policy tomorrow at 2 p.m., after gathering surveys about the smoking issue for the past year. According to Board members, many of the collected surveys were in favor of banning smoking.

The Government of the Student Body even got itself involved in the debate, resolving to back the smoking ban despite the protests of many students the GSB is supposed to represent.

Kathy Svec, marketing coordinator for the Union, said smoke “creates a barrier” for people, and that more people would frequent the M-Shop if there was a no-smoking policy.

When, exactly, would more students come to the M-Shop if it were smoke-free? The shop is already packed on nights when bands are playing, with both smoking and non-smoking students. The M-Shop is also always busy during lunch.

Svec said that few students utilize the M-Shop on nights without shows and that if smoking were prohibited, more students would visit on these nights.

But the MU Board is dreaming if it thinks the M-Shop will do better business if smoking is banned.

The M-Shop’s distinction as the only indoor-smoking area on campus is it’s primary attraction. That’s a large reason that it has the number of customers it does now.

There are plenty of other bars that do allow smoking, so those students who go to the M-Shop now because they know they can smoke will simply go somewhere else. This means the shop will lose customers, not generate them.

As for non-smokers, they won’t be any more likely to visit the shop either. Students already have smoke-free restaurants to haunt, and the M-Shop certainly won’t lure them away just because there’s no smoking.

The M-Shop has been a smoking establishment since it’s inception. It’s a place on this campus where students can listen to great live music the way it’s meant to be heard.

If students want a Coke on a Tuesday night, they can go to the Union food court. If they want a beer and a smoke, let them go the M-Shop.