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RCC ALLOWS SMOKING ONLY IN DESIGNATED SMOKING AREAS 

Rogue Community College will allow smoking only in designated areas on its campuses in Jackson and Josephine counties. A new policy restricting smoking to those designated areas was approved by the RCC board at its regular meeting Tuesday by a vote of 4-2. It will take effect July 1

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MnSCU might toughen campus smoking restrictions  

Further smoking restrictions might be coming to many of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities’ 54 campuses.

MnSCU’s Board of Trustees Wednesday passed a resolution encouraging each college and university to consult with its students, faculty and staff about further restricting tobacco.

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LETTER: Tawdry anaylsis 

The toughest part of responding to Hung Vu’s column (“Lighting Up,” March 16) is knowing where to begin. Vu proves to be a difficult writer to endure grammatically and a master of logical non sequitur. Even less impressively, his simplistic attack on President John T. Casteen, III reveals a glaring ignorance of political history and corporate governance. Perhaps worst of all, Vu takes it upon himself to ascribe motive to Casteen’s decisions, and he cannot manage to do it respectfully or with any trace of humility. . . .

It might also be a good idea for Vu to read something about what a corporate board does. A small amount of education could go a long way toward explaining what a company with over $16 billion in revenue does other than exploit children with cigarette ads (hint: it includes providing jobs and health care to employees, financial return to investors and, in 2008, over $48 million in charitable giving). . . .

Vu manages to flail around wildly in his last few paragraphs, simultaneously dismissing and embracing fundamental attribution error, equating “Jeffersonian ideals” with hypocrisy, and, cheaply, summing it all up by deciding that one explanation exists outside the realm of Vu omniscience: “the decision was just Casteen being Casteen.” How enlightening.

Vu worries about broad-brush geography-based “stigmas.” Maybe he should first consider the “Vu being Vu” stigma that he now bears so prominently — the combination of poor journalism, tawdry reasoning, and unfounded invective.

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VU: Lighting up 

Besides the health risks involved with smoking and the unethical targeting of underage children, Casteen’s decision to join Altria is ill-advised because it is also deleterious to Virginia’s history, particularly that of the University and the Charlottesville-Albemarle community.

Virginia has been progressive in the past few years to a point where we have almost shattered the “southern” stereotype. . . .

When I took social psychology last semester, one of the key points we learned about was the fundamental attribution error. People make this error when they assume that the actions of a person are a result of that person’s character rather than the circumstances of the situation. The fundamental attribution error applies in many cases. On the other hand, if every action was a result of the circumstance, then there would be no need for personality psychology.

Casteen has no situational excuse for the position he put himself into by joining Altria. He is fully aware of the public perception, did not need the money and could not possibly already be bored of the retired life since he is still employed. Maybe the decision was just Casteen being Casteen.

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VU: Lighting up 

Besides the health risks involved with smoking and the unethical targeting of underage children, Casteen’s decision to join Altria is ill-advised because it is also deleterious to Virginia’s history, particularly that of the University and the Charlottesville-Albemarle community.

Virginia has been progressive in the past few years to a point where we have almost shattered the “southern” stereotype. . . .

When I took social psychology last semester, one of the key points we learned about was the fundamental attribution error. People make this error when they assume that the actions of a person are a result of that person’s character rather than the circumstances of the situation. The fundamental attribution error applies in many cases. On the other hand, if every action was a result of the circumstance, then there would be no need for personality psychology.

Casteen has no situational excuse for the position he put himself into by joining Altria. He is fully aware of the public perception, did not need the money and could not possibly already be bored of the retired life since he is still employed. Maybe the decision was just Casteen being Casteen.

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MnSCU board urges further tobacco bans 

Further smoking restrictions might be coming to many of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities’ 54 campus.

MnSCU’s Board of Trustees Wednesday passed a resolution encouraging each college and university to consult with its students, faculty and staff about further restricting tobacco.

“This is an important step,” Trustee Christine Rice said when presenting the resolution. “It sends a clear signal to our campuses that while we value these decisions being made at the local level, we also encourage them to help advance the health and safety of everyone on campus with this well-documented risk.”

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KAUFFMAN: Tobacco Free Campus Initiative makes light of students’ rights  

Using tobacco products is the choice of the individual using them. We have the right to treat our bodies the way we want to treat them, and this right should be protected. I don’t smoke cigarettes, and I don’t support it, but shouldn’t students have the choice to smoke or not? . . .

The money to enforce this ban is going to come from rising tuition costs for smokers and nonsmokers alike. Should the large non-smoking population have to pay to stop the smoking population? Not if we don’t want to.

I think the right thing to do in this situation would be to let the students and faculty decide. It’s our money and our freedom; let us decide what to do with it.

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WVU smoking task force looks to peer institutions 

West Virginia University is looking at peer institutions to see how those schools have implemented campus-wide smoking bans.

The University of Kentucky, Oklahoma State University, University of New Mexico and University of Florida all have smoking bans in place.

All four of these universities are land grant institutions.

"That is one thing we know we have in common with them already," said C.B. Wilson, the head of WVU's Smoking Task Force.

By looking at the policies of these institutions the task force hopes to learn several things.

"First we want to review and identify how these schools are alike or different from us," said Wilson.

The task force wants to see if it can use the other universities' policies as a template.

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Cigarettes and Drinking: The Age-Old Campus Connection 

It's easy to dismiss as just a phase the drinks and smokes you have while 19 and "having fun." But according to a University of Arizona associate anthropology professor, Dr. Mimi Nichter, the detrimental habits that develop throughout college are alarmingly capable of turning into lasting problems, especially when the habits reinforce each other.

Dr. Nichter and her colleagues wanted to "unpack" the issue of tobacco use in association with alcohol because, as she said, "It's only when you start to understand why people do something and how they talk about it that you can begin to address some of the issues." The most pressing issue being the role of alcohol in tobacco adoption and addiction.

In an article titled "Smoking and Drinking Among College Students: 'It's a Package Deal,' " Dr. Nichter, along with Mark Nichter, an Arizona regents' professor of anthropology, and their colleagues explain the research they conducted, primarily focusing on "party smokers" and the "perceived social and physical utility functions of smoking and drinking at parties." . . .

Dr. Nichter said some people smoked and drank to keep from doing other things. They don't want to do drugs but they want to be with their friends, so they resort to smoking and drinking, considering them "the lesser of two evils." But the magnitude of tobacco's harmfulness should not be overlooked.

"Tobacco is the biggest preventable cause of death," she said. "It's one of the biggest public health problems that we have on the planet."

The various reasons for smoking do not counterbalance the destructive and addictive effects of tobacco. Even at very low levels, you can become addicted to tobacco.

"Don't think that smoking at parties is no big deal," Dr. Nichter warned, "because it is a big deal."

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• 13 China colleges to offer anti-smoking courses 

Thirteen Chinese medical colleges will introduce smoking control courses into their curriculum amid efforts to help raise public awareness about the dangers of smoking.

It will be the first time that Chinese universities have offered such courses, Shen Huahao, vice dean of the School of Medicine, Zhejiang University, said Tuesday.

The school is among the 13 medical colleges, including Peking Union Medical College and medical schools at Peking University and Fudan University. . . .

At least 6,500 students were expected to take the courses each year, for them to complete a five year anti-smoking education program, Shen said.

"We hope to increase smoking control efforts, starting from in schools," he said. "We'll train the medical students so they know the dangers of smoking."

More than half of Chinese male doctors are smokers

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VIDEWO: Students organize smoke out protest at LSUS 

The Student Government Association recently passed a proposition to ban smoking on campus, upsetting a lot of students. The smokers on campus have organized a smoke out today to protest the proposed ban.

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Missouri college goes smoke free  

The private, two year school Westminster College, in Fulton, will not allow any smoking on campus by summer.

According to the college, Westminster President Dr. George Forsythe announced that Westminster College will be a 100 percent smoke-free campus July 1.

All designated smoking areas will be eliminated, and smoking will be prohibited both indoors and at all outdoor places on campus.

Anyone, including visitors, who wish to smoke will be restricted to inside their personal vehicles or outside of campus property.

“This policy fits into our mission and values by creating a safe, healthy and clean environment for everyone,” Forsythe said.

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EDITORIAL: Smoking debate smolders as students choose to butt out 

The fiery debate of smoking on the University of Cincinnati's campus has been stoked by a recent poll on the UC Blackboard Web site. The poll was sponsored by Student Government in conjunction with the student group Colleges Against Cancer.

The results were overwhelming, indicating 64.34 percent of the 6,102 students responding favor a non-smoking UC campus.

While the thought of a smoke-free UC campus is appealing, a tremendous amount of work needs to be done by the student body before attempting to institute a no-smoking policy, including enforcing the current rules UC has in place. . . .

Laziness on the part of the UC community to stand by its current policy is not a reason to create a new one. If the policy is truly put in action and is still found to be troublesome, then discussions concerning a new policy can begin.

There is an old saying: "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." Unfortunately, the current UC policy hasn't been used enough to even be broken, let alone fixed.

Student Government should poll students again, asking students in favor of a non-smoking policy if they have actually addressed violators of the current UC rules.

It is easy to answer a poll feigning indignity at smoking on campus and demand a new policy. It's a lot harder to stand up and support what you already have, which is what the UC student body should do before calling for a new policy.

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TUREK: College smoking bans stifle rights to indulge - 

By allowing the college to outlaw smoking, a completely legal activity, they are opening the floodgates of fascism that would allow the administration of the college to impose whatever restrictions or sanctions they wish on the community of the college, all in the name of "the good of the community." . . .

Tobacco products can give you cancer and other health problems, but packaging has displayed this warning since the 60s. People who smoke know it's bad for them, but it is one of their vices, or a guilty pleasure, and I ask you: who among us doesn't have at least one vice?

Smokers smoke for the same reason you indulge in your own guilty pleasure: to take a break and relax, even if it is only for a short time, which they are free to do by law. By not placing a ban on smoking, we allow the principles of freedom that let us live our lives independently here in America.

So the next time you drink that shot, eat that food you love but know you shouldn't have, or light that cigarette, enjoy it; not just for yourself, but for freedom and the American way.

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College to ban smoking  

Westminster College will become a smoke-free campus on July 1, says Westminster President Dr. George B. Forsythe.

Smoking will be banned both indoors and at all outdoor places on campus. The campus is defined as "all owned facilities, athletic venues and college-owned facilities, athletic venues and college-owned residential facilities." It includes the campus areas from Jefferson Street to Hackberry (east of Hickman) and West 8th Street to West 4th Street and inside all college-owned vehicles.

Fraternity houses will follow national fraternity guidelines and remain smoke-free indoors.

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