Tobacco free Universities: A new trend.

[c.nash]

Well I got this email from my university about their new policy starting in January.
Screw them. I'm snussing at every class I take. :P

There is a lot of people in the dorms that smoke hookah and cigs so this is going to be a fun one. Lol
We've even had hookah sessions in common areas in the past.

Without further hesitation here is the article:



FIU to go tobacco-free in January 2011


Members of the FIU Board of Trustees approved a regulation today that will make the university tobacco-free beginning January 2011. The vote was made during the board’s September meeting.

Smoking and the use of tobacco products will be prohibited on all university-owned properties, including Modesto A. Maidique Campus, Biscayne Bay Campus, Engineering Campus, recreational facilities, residential facilities, and parking lots and garages. Tobacco use in vehicles that are on FIU-owned properties will also be prohibited.

“This regulation is truly a reflection of our commitment to environment and health,” said Vice President for Student Affairs Rosa Jones. “The smoke- and tobacco-free initiative will help us build a healthier university.”

Jones noted that enforcement of the regulation should come after a six- to eight-month period of giving support to students, faculty and staff that will incorporate smoking-cessation services and resources. An Implementation Committee led by Javier Marques, chief of staff in the Office of the President, will include student representation.

With the vote, FIU becomes the second public university in the state to implement a tobacco-free initiative. University of Florida enacted such a policy earlier this year.

In approving the regulation, FIU joins a growing national trend. There are now at least 420 universities around the country with smoke-free campuses, including residential housing where it exists, according to the American Nonsmokers’ Rights Foundation.

Services available free of charge

University Health Services (UHS) has stepped up its tobacco-cessation services and is offering free tobacco dependence services to all FIU students, faculty and staff who want to kick the habit. One-on-one consultations and group sessions are available at both Modesto A. Maidique Campus (MMC) and Biscayne Bay Campus (BBC). Call 305-348-2401, extension 5, for an appointment at MMC and 305-919-5620, extension 4, for an appointment at BBC.

UHS leaders acknowledge that not all tobacco users want to quit. With that in mind, they are developing a workshop for individuals who want to learn to manage their tobacco habit while on a tobacco-free campus.





Posted by cochrane on September 24, 2010.

[raptor]

"Smoking is evil" is now unquestioningly "tobacco is evil".

It won't convince smokers to quit, but rather go off campus to do their deeds. So, it only accomplishes keeping second-hand smoke off campus, and being a PITA for smokeless users (although I imagine very very few use safer snus).

[spirit72]

"Smoking is evil" is now unquestioningly "tobacco is evil".

It won't convince smokers to quit, but rather go off campus to do their deeds. So, it only accomplishes keeping second-hand smoke off campus, and being a PITA for smokeless users (although I imagine very very few use safer snus).

Then they should strongly consider switching. I can guarantee from experience that no one will be the wiser.

[c.nash]

I use Los during class. I throw a prilla in before class and if it's a classs that is over 2 hours during the break I go to the bathroom and throw another one in. I've even given presentations and speeches and bs with some Los in. Haha.

[raptor]

Then they should strongly consider switching. I can guarantee from experience that no one will be the wiser.

Oh, I don't disagree. But I fear that some new lies will be spawned if snus becomes popular because Americans think all smokeless is cancerous, sugary dip.

[jagmanss]

I like how they said they will be offering free tobacco dependence services to all FIU students, faculty and staff who want to kick the habit.

How mis-informed they can be for being a university. It's an addiction to nicotine not a habit... I'm in the habit of loving steaks, But I don't walk around with 20 steaks on me

[lxskllr]

It's not their business to set that kind of policy in the first place. College is for drinking beer, smoking weed, and joining the communist party. Just because something isn't great for you, it doesn't give the learning institutions carte blanc to parent. By the time someone's 15 or 16, they know what's up, and should be making their own decisions. Nannying from the state, or learning institutions isn't appropriate.

[raptor]

I wouldn't call it nannying—although the article definitely uses that sort of tone. The reason shouldn't be that "tobacco is evil" but rather that smoking is harmful to others.

I would applaud a campus-wide smoking ban at the universities I've attended, but not a carte blanche tobacco ban. They clearly don't understand the difficulties in kicking a nicotine addiction.

[lxskllr]

Smoking outside isn't harmful to others, and I'm dubious that inside smoke is in reasonable quantities. If someone doesn't want to smell smoke, then too f'n bad. I don't want to smell cheap perfume, and car exhaust, but I have to anyway; that's just life.

[raptor]

Smoking outside isn't harmful to others, and I'm dubious that inside smoke is in reasonable quantities. If someone doesn't want to smell smoke, then too f'n bad. I don't want to smell cheap perfume, and car exhaust, but I have to anyway; that's just life.

You're right. There's lots of other pollutants out there and smoke dissipates quickly outdoors. Still, an outright ban would at least influence smokers to either switch to smokeless or try to quit. I think everyone here would be happy with snus being the preferred form of tobacco in the USA. (Again, the problem I have with this ban in particular is lumping smokeless along with cigarettes for no good reason.)

My only gripe is that a lot of smokers are too lazy to take more than a step outside the door before planting themselves for break despite smoking codes. All that smoke gets sucked back into the building.

[lxskllr]

My problem with all of that is cigarette smokers are our brothers. They may be our half retarded brothers that we bail out of jail every so often, but they're still out brothers. If we let them get thrown under the bus over a bunch of nonsense, who's going to protect our interests? I'm for tobacco in all it's forms, and I consider an assault on any of us, an assault on me.

[bakerbarber]

Don't most, or some, people pay to go to college.

Don't these ass mongers work FOR the people paying their salary? Like the students and their parents.

This kind of forced indoctrination and persuasion is just the tip of the iceberg. People are being persuaded and brainwashed by people who have never worked a day in their lives for centuries.

I never understood how most professors come into their profession out of,....... school. So the same idealistic crap and benevolent unrealistic discourse is regurgitated and spewed onto young minds like so much spunk on a porn star's face. So just like a recipient of Peter North's seed, these seemingly eager young receptacles soon find out that they are actually the canvas for experimentation in indecency and obscenity.

The fact that unemployment rates are what they are, I am physically revolted that any college would discriminate against tobacco users. The sheer exorbitant prices for a degree when weighed against the future earnings potential is insulting. A degree almost isn't worth squat these days. If I was going to this school I would shit on the "Board of Trustees" conference table.

I can't comment any further.

[deebocools]

never been to college but they did this at my friends school.

The way it worked out, it didn't work out. their rule was you had to be 100 feet from a building or something stupid like that. This law is different so I guess it could be effective.

people just didn't do it. No one would rat them out because no one cared. I mean seriously, what kind of person would go up to someone having a smoke and say "hey man, could you please go way, way over there to do that, where the smoke is still going to go straight up in the air?"

They also had late-night hookah sessions, and unfortunately the rule did stop that. partially through my help it turned into late night dip sessions

When I did landscaping I worked at this dudes house who wanted my fellow employees to go up his long, long driveway to smoke. They always squeezed out the cherry of their smokes and put the buts in a plastic bag instead of flicking them, so that wasn't the issue. He was really specific about how far they had to be to smoke. It was insane. They got tired of walking all that way(and suspected he just wanted to punish them), so they bought some dip and casually spat chaw on his property instead. I thought that was poetic.

[b0gman]

It's not their business to set that kind of policy in the first place. College is for drinking beer, smoking weed, and joining the communist party. Just because something isn't great for you, it doesn't give the learning institutions carte blanc to parent. By the time someone's 15 or 16, they know what's up, and should be making their own decisions. Nannying from the state, or learning institutions isn't appropriate.

Thank you Ixskllr couldnt be better put.. NO offense meant to my snus brothers in Cali but it would be a school on the left coast that is arrogant enough to try to force its faculty and students to quit smoking/dipping/snusing.. The last time I checked both my father and grand father fought to keep this a FREE country and it saddens me to watch freedom of choice fall with hardly a word said

[raptor]

I don't think it has anything to do with being liberal or conservative. You'll find these sort of drug-free (including nicotine) policies at bible colleges as well as bigger-named private universities.