Tobacco.org

[SLIDESHOW] Students, faculty light up to protest tobacco-ban  

Even on a UK men's basketball game day, the usual chants of students were altered in response to the tobacco-ban—"C-I-G-S, CIGS, CIGS, CIGS!"

Under clouds of smoke, more than 100 smokers and non-smokers gathered to protest the campus-wide tobacco ban UK implemented Thursday by continuously using tobacco products in front of Patterson Office Tower and on the Student Center patio.

The ban prohibits the use of cigarettes, pipes, cigars and chewing tobacco, and extends to all properties owned by the university in Fayette County.

“What are they going to do? Tell me that I can’t smoke?” said Robbie Moore

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• University's smoke-free plan first in country 

The University of Auckland will become the country's first smoke-free university next year.

From January 1, smoking will be banned on all Auckland University campuses and outdoor spaces, including places previously designated as smoking areas.

In a revision of its smoke-free policy, the university decided the old policy was not combating risks to non-smokers from passive smoking.

Staff and students were asked for their views on three options - maintaining the status quo, banning smoking within 10m of buildings and facilities or total prohibition.

Seventy-five per cent of those who responded supported total prohibition

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• University's smoke-free plan first in country 

The University of Auckland will become the country's first smoke-free university next year.

From January 1, smoking will be banned on all Auckland University campuses and outdoor spaces, including places previously designated as smoking areas.

In a revision of its smoke-free policy, the university decided the old policy was not combating risks to non-smokers from passive smoking.

Staff and students were asked for their views on three options - maintaining the status quo, banning smoking within 10m of buildings and facilities or total prohibition.

Seventy-five per cent of those who responded supported total prohibition

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UPDATE (9:33 am): Purdue to become smoke free except in limited areas July 1  

Purdue University's West Lafayette campus will become smoke free except in limited areas beginning July 1.

The campus-wide policy was announced Thursday (Nov 19) - coinciding with the 33rd annual Great American Smokeout - following input from faculty, staff and students. The new policy will limit smoking to limited designated campus areas and will prohibit smoking in all vehicles owned or leased by Purdue.

"Following feedback from a campus-wide survey as well as meetings with severalcampus groups, we modified the proposed policy from one that called for a total ban to one that will allow smoking in a few areas," said Al Diaz, executive vice president for business and finance, treasurer. The responsibility for choosing those areas will fall to Diaz.

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UK, Louisville Begin Smoking Bans  

Smoking was officially snuffed out Thursday at the University of Kentucky with the start of a strict tobacco-free policy everywhere on the sprawling campus in the heart of burley tobacco country.

The ban includes outdoor areas and applies to chew, pipes, cigars and snuff as well as cigarettes.

Kentucky is the nation's leading producer of burley tobacco, an ingredient in cigarettes, and will keep plenty of ties to tobacco, even with the ban.

Its College of Agriculture offers production advice to tobacco growers and the school is home to a research center that is seeking new commercial uses for tobacco.

The new policy was welcomed by nonsmoker Kelly Stilz, a senior from Louisville.

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Nonbinding UT vote to question smoking  

A student-led initiative wants to make the University of Toledo a smoke-free campus.

A vote of students and faculty and staff on the main campus starts today to see if there is support for such a change.

"We want people to have a voice," said Krystal Weaver, president of the Undergraduate Student Government. "There are those who say they have a right to smoke and those who say, 'It's my right not to smoke and to not be around it.'"

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SGA votes against restricting campus smoking 

Freshman legislator Zach Cohen, far right, sponsored the smoking bill the SGA voted down last night.

The SGA rejected a resolution that would have increased the distance people must stand from buildings while smoking at a meeting last night.

This bill comes at a time when the University Senate is reviewing a campus-wide smoking ban, which would completely eliminate the need for a non-smoking radius.

The nearly 30-minute debate surrounding the issue turned to ways to improve enforcement of the existing 15-foot policy before increasing the no-smoke zone to 25 feet around building entrances and windows. The issue culminated in a 19-11 vote in which Student Government Association legislators showed a sweeping preference for focusing on the policy at hand before recommending an amendment.

“People aren’t following the policy that exists,” South Hill legislator Kevin Ford said. “What I’m wondering is, why should we expand the provisions of a failing policy? It’s like promoting someone who isn’t doing their job.”

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VIDEOL: Some UK students protest smoking ban  

You're no longer allowed to smoke anywhere at the University of Kentucky.

A campus-wide smoking ban went into effect Thursday but not everyone's happy about it.

This afternoon UK students along with some others are speaking out against the ban at the free speech area near the Student Center.

UK's smoking ban includes all tobacco products.

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• Universities of Louisville, Kentucky smoking bans go into effect Thursday 

Starting Thursday, Kentucky’s two largest universities are declaring themselves smoke-free, drastically restricting cigarette smoking to create healthier campuses.

The University of Kentucky is banning all tobacco products anywhere on campus, while the University of Louisville is restricting smoking to designated outside areas, with plans for a complete campus ban by next November.

To kick off the ban, information and support booths will be set up in front of the Student Activity Center on the Belknap Campus and the Kornhauser Library on the Health Science Campus from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. And U of L is providing free nicotine patches or gum to students and employees who take part in smoking cessation classes.

Even so, some U of L students are complaining that those preparations have been too hurried, especially when compared with the 11 months of groundwork at UK.

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Tenn. ranks 44th in overall health  

Tennessee ranked 44th among states in overall health, but 45th in smoking and 47th in obesity, both of which cause costly preventable diseases, said "America's Health Rankings." . . .

Today's Great American Smokeout challenges people to quit smoking for just one day (with the expectation that more smoke-free days will follow). Local efforts will target both smokers and nonsmokers, said Tyler Peterson, chair of the University of Tennessee Colleges Against Cancer.

The organization's executive committee will be on the campus's pedestrian walkway today with an exhibit tagged "Aren't you sick of walking through smoke?" and marked with smoke machines and chalk outlines of bodies to represent cancer deaths, he said.

The group will have information on cancers and will give out candy to passers-by - Dum Dums for smokers, Smarties for nonsmokers.

But their serious message is "how to quit,"

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U of L Smoking Ban Begins Thursday 

The University of Louisville begins its program to go smoke free this week.

Starting Thursday, students will only be allowed to smoke in designated areas of its Belknap and Shelby campuses. Those areas will gradually be reduced until smoking is banned entirely in one year.

The University of Kentucky is wrapping up a similar program this week.

Some students at U of L have complained that the school has not followed through on its promise to provide resources to help smokers quit. Anti-smoking program director Patricia Benson says nicotine patches and gum are already available, and classes will be offered.

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Getting Burned for Putting the Heat on Tobacco ($$) 

When professors raised questions about University of Florida students working as researchers on behalf of tobacco companies, they themselves came under tough scrutiny (see related article).

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SCF campus may move to go tobacco-free  

BRADENTON -- The local community college campus may be going smoke-free.

Lars Hafner, president of State College of Florida, told board members Monday that students had been talking to him about the possibility of a tobacco-free campus.

At SCF's Venice campus, students recently held a forum about the matter, he told the board.

"Down in Venice, they've started to aggressively pursue that," he said. "It's a student-driven initiative."

If student groups formally seek a change in the college's policies, it would fall to the Board of Trustees to decide the issue, Hafner said. If the board voted to ban tobacco, it would apply to the Bradenton campus as well as those in Lakewood Ranch and Venice, he said.

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Fernandez: NMC campus is now a smoke-free zone  

More than a month since the passage of a law that bans smoking in public places, the Northern Marianas College assured the public yesterday that the campus is now a smoke-free zone and is drafting policy that would address student violators.

College president Dr. Carmen Fernandez said the institution is compliant with Public Law 16-46, and that smoking is no longer allowed anywhere on NMC property.

Fernandez said that, soon after the enactment of the anti-smoking law, she issued a memorandum to all employees to inform them of the law's application on campus. She said she expects all students, faculty, and staff to comply with the measure.

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SIMS: Students can make own decisions, do not need administration’s policy  

I have to admit that I am personally embarrassed by UK President Lee Todd’s proposed tobacco ban. Obviously, it’s no secret that I am vehemently against the ban but it’s not because I smoke (I don’t) or that I support “Big Tobacco.” As I have explained to several individuals, I don’t really have a dog in the fight. . . .

beyond being embarrassing for the governed, it deliberately limits our freedom of choice. Using tobacco and where we use tobacco (assuming we followed the compromise of outside smoking sections) is a choice that is ours; not the administration’s. To me, it doesn’t make much sense that we elect individuals so that they can make laws to protect us from ourselves. Or in the case of the paternal administration, we don’t even have a say in the matter. It’s just a good thing we have Papa Todd and Mama Hahn to take care of us since we aren’t smart enough to know any better.

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