Tanning beds are present at 12 percent of the nation’s top colleges and universities, according to a report recently published online on JAMA Dermatology. At our university, there’s a salon on John Street near Fat Sandwich called The Beach — Sun and Spa, in addition to beds in select apartment buildings, to name a few places students can darken their skin tones.

But some feel this access to tanning beds is inappropriate, because tanning can increase the risk of getting melanoma; due to the fact that skin cancer is the number one form of cancer in adults 25 to 29, some medical experts think that tanning beds should be banned on college campuses nationwide much like how many universities, including our own, have banned smoking. Personally, we don’t see the point.

Banning tanning beds on our campus and others across the country would be an unnecessary waste of time and effort, and there are better alternatives to discouraging tanning. 

It’s not that we don’t agree that tanning is bad for a person’s health — we do. We know it can increase a person’s chances of getting skin cancer, but most other people know this too, including those who do it. No one is trying to trick students or anyone who tans into thinking it is good for them. 

Tanning most definitely comes with its risks and this is not new to most people. 

Nearly all the students on campus are adults, and, thus, can make their own decisions. If students choose to do things that are legal and harmful to their health, they have the right to do so, regardless of whether we agree with these choices or not.

Tanning, unlike smoking, harms only the individual indulging in the practice. There is no such thing as second-hand tan, and your chances of being diagnosed with melanoma don’t increase if you live with someone who’s obsessed with having dark, glowing skin year round.

Additionally, those who really want to tan would probably continue to find ways to do so, even if they don’t do it on campus. Maybe a salon would open on the part of Green Street that isn’t technically on campus, or maybe students would head off campus to different salons. This would be the case on any campus across the country.

Instead of worrying about the location of tanning beds, those concerned with the negative effects of tanning should further emphasize the risks that go along with the activity. Advocates’ time would be better spent pushing universities and those providing beds to students to make more information about skin cancer available.

As we said, tanning is legal, and everyone at the University has a right to do it. We are not promoting the continuation of tanning for those who do it, but instead, we suggest that instead of trying to move tanning beds off campus, advocates should try to further warn those who tan about the harmful effects.