Tobacco.org

• A Message From President James D. Spaniolo  

Earlier this year, we convened a 15-member committee of students and staff to review UT Arlington's current policy regarding tobacco use on campus and to explore the possibility of advancing a tobacco-free initiative for the University.

Jean Hood, vice president for human resources, chaired the Tobacco-Free Campus Initiative Committee. For almost eight months, the committee conducted a thorough assessment of issues and attitudes related to the use of tobacco products on campus. . . .

In September, the committee issued its findings to the campus community and forwarded its final recommendations to me. After the final report was issued, the committee welcomed additional input and responses from students, faculty, and staff. We received 205 responses.

Having weighed all of the information and input on the matter, I am satisfied that the committee has thoroughly researched and considered this issue. Therefore, I accept and concur with the committee's recommendations to make UT Arlington a tobacco-free campus.

We are not telling anyone they can no longer use tobacco. That was never the intent, and it is not the case. Use of tobacco products is a personal choice. With the new policy, we're simply saying that the use of tobacco on campus will not be permissible and that we will become a tobacco-free campus by August 1, 2011.

Meanwhile, during the next 21 months leading up to August 1, 2011, we will address issues of enforcement. During this time, we also will be more vigilant in enforcing our current policy, which prohibits smoking within 50 feet of any campus building.

The one exception--and this is the only element of the recommendations that I would like to clarify--is that we will allow individuals to use tobacco products in their personal vehicles, provided they do so with the windows closed and properly dispose of waste material. No use of tobacco products will be permitted in University-owned vehicles, regardless of whether they are on campus or off campus.

Additionally, I am pleased to report that the University is offering support for anyone who wishes to stop using tobacco.

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• Edinburgh University students stub out plan to ban cigarettes sales on campus 

STUDENTS at Edinburgh University have voted to keep cigarettes on sale on campus.

A motion was put before the annual general meeting of Edinburgh University Students Association which would have stopped EUSA shops from selling cigarettes and remove all cigarette machines on campus.

The motion, put forward by a fourth year medical student, argued that EUSA should not profit from, promote or help facilitate smoking. It would also have required the students association to promote services which provide support and advice to students who wished to give up smoking.

More than 700 students turned out for the AGM – the largest number for several years – filling the university's George Square lecture theatre and forcing organisers to set up a video link to another venue.

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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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• 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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• Ban on sweet hookah tobacco imminent 

The message from Health Minister Jakob Axel Nielsen is clear: young people are hitting the hookahs too much and the addictive tobacco used in the water pipes should be banned.

A parliamentary majority supports a ban on the sweet-flavoured tobacco used in water pipes, and Nielsen agreed measures needed to be introduced to protect the young.

‘It’s a really bad idea to have sweet addictive tobacco in water pipes and worrying that it’s become so popular among young people, which is why I’m investigating whether we can introduce a ban in Denmark,’ Nielsen said to DR News.

The move comes on the heels of a study carried out by the National Cancer Society and Maastricht University, which found young people who use water pipes are three times as likely to smoke regular cigarettes.

About 800 Danish students aged 15-16 were monitored for a year as part of the study.

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• Towson University to ban all smoking starting in August  

Towson University will be a smoke-free campus, it announced Wednesday, becoming Maryland's first four-year college to ban an activity once as commonplace as lounging on the quad.

The reason for the policy, which goes into effect in August, is simple, administrators said: They want to reduce health risks from smoking and exposure to secondhand smoke.

"I don't try to guide people in how they live their lives, but I am going to protect the campus so it's clean and pleasant for as many people as possible," said Towson President Robert L. Caret.

Smoking is already banned in campus buildings at Towson, but under the new rules, it will be off-limits on the grounds: on sidewalks, in garages and parking lots, and even outside the bar at Bill Bateman's Bistro.

Towson joins a rapidly growing list of U.S. colleges

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• Proposal would extend UF smoking ban to Greeks  

The University of Florida's tobacco ban would apply to fraternities and sororities when it takes effect next year, under a proposal released Wednesday by the university.

UF banned tobacco use in Ben Hill Griffin Stadium starting this season and on the property of health-related facilities starting Nov. 1. A university-wide ban is planned for July 1.

The proposed regulation, which is scheduled to be considered next month by UF trustees, would prohibit smoking as well as the use of smokeless tobacco and electronic devices meant to simulate smoking. It would apply to university-owned land in Alachua County and Jacksonville.

It also would apply to land occupied or controlled by fraternities and sororities recognized by UF, which includes property on and off campus.

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• HLS HSC halts ban on smoking: Other area hospitals ready for Nov. 19 

A smoking ban slated to take effect next week at WVU's Robert C. Byrd Health Sciences Center (HSC) has been postponed indefinitely.

The HSC, Monongalia Health System, HealthSouth Mountain-View Regional Rehabilitation Hospital and WVU Healthcare -- which includes WVU Hospitals and University Health Associates (UHA) -- announced plans earlier this year to eliminate on-site smoking by the date of the American Cancer Society's Great American Smokeout, Nov. 19.

However, the HSC can't implement a smoking ban without approval from the WVU Board of Governors (BOG). The board met Friday, but the smoking policy was not on the agenda.

Dr. Fred Butcher, vice president for planning and operations, said the HSC will wait to see what happens with a campuswide smoking policy review initiated by WVU President James Clements.

"I'm absolutely confident we'll get there," Butcher said. "We just need to go through the appropriate process." . . .

At Friday's BOG meeting, Clements said a task force is being formed to review the smoking policy. Faculty, students and staff will be included, but Clements said it will likely take time to address the issue.

It can take a year or more to address a campus smoking policy, he said.

"The discussion about that is fairly complex," Clements said. "When are you on campus, when are you off campus. ... It's a complicated issue. I just want to allow people to have input."

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• SGA discusses smoking restrictions  

On Tuesday, the Student Government Association (SGA) considered a resolution on the policies proposed by Hopkins Kicks Butts that would restrict smoking on campus.

The resolution concluded that while the SGA supports efforts to promote the hazards of secondhand smoke, evidence on how these proposals would provide positive health benefits needs to be provided.

Part of the Hopkins Kicks Butts (HKB) proposal would implement a campus-wide ban on tobacco products, which would be enforced by peer-policing and a $15 ban per violation. The student organization has also called for smoking to be restricted to 50-foot zones.

"The public health objective says that smoking is harmful. What [this group] proposed is not practical," freshman class president Wyatt Larkin said.

He suggested that policymakers should determine if smoking is a threat to student health, rather than relying on the claims made by the HKB Web site, which Larkin said, "don't really add up." . . .

The SGA concluded the meeting with a motion to table the proposal until next week's meeting, which is scheduled to be in Mason Hall at 7 p.m.

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• Law faculties recruited to anti-smoking squads 

Faculty members at Widener University School of Law will have a new role to play next academic year: smoking police. . . .

Widener is one of a growing number of law schools that are getting tough on smoking by students, faculty, staff and visitors. . . .

In addition to Widener, which has campuses in Wilmington, Del., and Harrisburg, Pa., Washington University School of Law in St. Louis and the University of Florida Levin College of Law in Gainesville, Fla., are preparing to ban all smoking effective in July. The University of Iowa College of Law, the University of Arkansas School of Law, the Oklahoma City University School of Law, the Indiana University Maurer School of Law-Bloomington and Indiana University School of Law-Indianapolis each went totally smoke-free last year. . . .

The smoking ban at the University of Arkansas had a significant effect on campus, said law school communications director Andy Albertson, who served on a committee that recommended the smoking ban.

"You just don't see people smoking on campus much anymore," he said.

Enforcement has been an issue in a few rare cases, Albertson said. Like most schools that prohibit smoking, Arkansas relies primarily on self-policing to keep the tobacco at bay. Some faculty members choose to inform smokers of the policy, while others choose not to get involved.

"There is no official enforcement. . . .

For schools getting ready to go smoke-free, Albertson recommends giving staff and students plenty of advance warning and coming up with a real enforcement process.

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• Doctor presses the case against tobacco scholarships 

A San Luis Obispo doctor is continuing to speak out against Cal Poly for allowing students to accept scholarships from the smokeless tobacco industry as prize awards in collegiate rodeo events.

University officials say Cal Poly has no basis to deny students scholarship funds from a legal source, and university officials note that no tobacco-related advertising is allowed at school events under a campus policy. Five years ago, Cal Poly officials supported creating a fund that could be an alternative to tobacco-industry scholarships, but that idea was rejected by tobacco opponents.

Stephen L. Hansen, a physician and representative of the county Tobacco Control Coalition, said he's outraged that the chewing tobacco industry lures students to a cancer-causing product through scholarships

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• Up in smoke?  

In less than a month, though, one college campus will no longer allow any tobacco on its grounds-the University of Kentucky.

On Nov. 19, UK will join the American Cancer Society's Great American Smoke-Out initiative and will enact a completely tobacco-free policy. The policy will apply to all UK property within Fayette County, and to everyone on campus: students, faculty, visitors, etc.

The policy will eliminate all tobacco-related practices from the campus. People will not even be able to smoke a cigarette in their own cars.

"The goal is to promote a healthy environment so people can live, work and learn," said Ellen Hahn, the director of the Kentucky Center for Smoke-Free Policy.

Hahn said the Board of Trustees at UK has been discussing the move for several years. Currently, smoking is prohibited in or within 20 feet of all buildings. Last year, the UK Medical Center became completely tobacco-free.

"There has been very little push-back," Hahn said. "There has been a lot of positive support."

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• No lighting up, even on sidewalk?  

Jarred Postell, a smoker, says he thinks people should be allowed to smoke outside, so he doesn't support the idea of a ban on lighting up on a section of Elizabeth Avenue.

When N.C. restaurants and bars go smoke-free at the start of 2010, smokers might find another place they aren't welcome: part of Elizabeth Avenue and its sidewalks.

Central Piedmont Community College campuses are going tobacco-free next year, and the school asked the city of Charlotte to ban smoking on Elizabeth Avenue from Kings Drive to Charlottetown Avenue, where it bisects its central campus.

If the City Council approves the ban, Charlotte would be among the first cities in the country to ban smoking on a city sidewalk or street.

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• Purdue floats smoke-free proposal  

Purdue University is considering a policy that would ban smoking anywhere on campus and in university vehicles. The university is now gathering feedback on the issue from the Purdue community.

If the proposal is approved, Purdue University will be one of more than 300 universities nationwide with a smoke-free campus. A similar policy already is in effect at several other Indiana colleges and universities, including Indiana University's Bloomington campus.

The proposal is being considered because of evidence of the effects of secondhand smoke, said Alphonso Diaz, executive vice president for business and finance and treasurer.

He added that smoking by faculty and staff contributes to increased absences, higher insurance rates, and lower productivity.

Graduate student Jessica Raffelson is adamantly against the proposal.

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