By: Gabriel Arrarás / News Director
Students returning to the University for the Spring semester will be greeted by signs ringing in the start of a new year with a tobacco and smoke free campus. The signs, which encourage visitors, faculty and students to “breathe easy,” are part of the University’s measures to ensure that word of the new Tobacco and Smoke Free Campus initiative gets out.
The initiative, approved by the University Board of Trustees during a Sept. 24 meeting, bans the use of all tobacco related products on University campuses effective Jan 1, 2011, making FIU the first institution in South Florida to be completely smoke free.
This initiative also makes FIU the second University in the state of Florida to implement a smoke-free policy. The University of Florida was the first to go smoke free in July, 2010.
“This initiative is also intended to foster greater respect for one another, improve the health of the FIU family and align with FIU’s growing commitment to environmental sustainability,” said Vice President of Student Affairs Rosa Jones in an email to the University community.
With this new policy, smoking will be banned on all campus recreational areas, dorms, parking lots, garages and inside parked cars on campus.
During the initial six-month period of the smoke free campus initiative, the policy will be enforced socially. Those found smoking will be asked to stop and palm cards with pertinent information on why the University has gone tobacco and smoke free will be offered for distribution.
“Anyone violating the policy should be reminded of the regulation and asked to dispose of the product in a courteous manner,” said Jones.
According to Jones, continuing violations after the initial six-month period will result in judicial conduct action following the University Student Code of Conduct; however, punishment for continuous violations has not been clearly defined.
The University recognizes that some people may need assistance with managing their dependance on cigarettes and other tobacco products and as such, they are using the initial six-month period of the policy as a transition period where: “employees and supervisors will be educated on how to provide support to their colleagues, consult with those who continue to smoke on campus and direct them to specific available sources,” according to a letter to the University community from Jaffus Hardrick, vice president of the Division of Human Resources.
University Health Services and the Division of Human Resources will also be offering “brown bag sessions” to educate the University community on how to manage or stop dependency on tobacco products.
“We’re not telling people that you have to quit your tobacco habit, we’re just saying that when you’re on campus you cannot use tobacco products,” Mariella Gabaroni, assistant director of University Health Services and chair of the Smoke-Free Tobacco-Free Steering Committe told Student Media during an interview in late October. “However, if you do want to quit, we have sessions and programs available so that you can manage that habit.”
Since October the University has launched one-on-one consultations, a page on the UHS website and sporadic University-wide emails to alert the University community of the policy and ensure that those who want help with their smoking habits can get it.
Smoke-Free Tobacco-Free Official Panthers Partners, or STOPP, has also met with the deans of several schools and colleges in order to spread information about the new policy.
“Now that the regulation has passed, we want to give them information about all of the services offered by [UHS] and also how we can get this information to their students,” said Daniel Estape, a member of STOPP and a public health masters student, in an interview with Student Media in October.
According to the American Nonsmokers’ Rights Foundation, FIU has joined more than 400 U.S. colleges and universities that have banned the use of tobacco products.
To learn more about the resources and assistance available, visit: http://tobacco-free.fiu.edu
About Post Author
