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Clearing the Air: Assessing Students' Ideas and Attitudes on Implementing a Smoke-free Campus

Clearing the Air: Assessing Students' Ideas and Attitudes on Implementing a Smoke-free Campus. MTSU ADP Student Organization Liz Thomason, Matthew Foriest, Kiara Hall, Nicholas Crosby, Andrew King Middle Tennessee State University June 19, 2010

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Clearing the Air: Assessing Students' Ideas and Attitudes on Implementing a Smoke-free Campus

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  1. Clearing the Air: Assessing Students' Ideas and Attitudeson Implementing a Smoke-free Campus MTSU ADP Student Organization Liz Thomason, Matthew Foriest, Kiara Hall, Nicholas Crosby, Andrew King Middle Tennessee State University June 19, 2010 ADP National Meeting, Providence, Rhode Island As part of the panel “Supporting, Engaging, Inspiring: Students as Agents and Architects of Democracy”

  2. Smoking by the Numbers • Adults 20.6% • 18-24 21.4% • Smokeless 3.3% • Deaths 443,000

  3. COPD • Cancer • Hypertension • Heart Attack • Stroke • Pulmonary Embolism • = $96,000,000,000

  4. Smokefree Air Challenge

  5. Arkansas Clean Air on Campus Act (2009) • Prohibits smoking on state-supported institutions of higher education campuses, with the stated goal being to “reduce secondhand smoke exposure to non-smokers.” • Passed in March 2009: 68-26-6 in the Arkansas House and 34-0-1 in the Senate. • Law goes into effect August 1, 2010.

  6. Iowa Smokefree Air Act (2008) • Prohibits smoking in public areas, mass transit systems, school grounds, and other state buildings. • Passed in the Iowa House 56-44 and 28-22 in the Senate. • Upheld after a judicial challenge on April 1, 2010.

  7. The ALA suggests tobacco-free policies rather than smoke-free policies. • The number of tobacco-free campuses is growing nationwide: • October 2009: 176 tobacco-free campuses • April 2010: 231 tobacco-free campuses • June 2010: 249 tobacco-free campuses

  8. “Strong Law in Effect” • 2006 Tennessee law, which did not go into effect until summer 2007, ended smoking in public buildings in Tennessee. • 2007 Tennessee Non-Smokers Protection Act ended smoking in numerous restaurants, hotels, etc., to permit Tennesseans to breathe smoke-free.

  9. Tennessee Board of Regents (TBR) complied with the new 2006 state legislation and adopted its own non-smoking-in-TBR-buildings policy. • TBR also has a policy prohibiting tobacco being sold and distributed on its campuses.

  10. MTSU Smoking Policy: Unenforced Middle Tennessee State University was the last TBR school to stop the sale of cigarettes on its campus. MTSU’s policy is a reflection of current TBR policy, but the policy is not being enforced. MTSU has stepped in the right direction by stopping the sale of tobacco, but now there needs to be more enforcement of current policy.

  11. We think of our campus as having a lot of smokers, but… • How many students actually do smoke at MTSU? How big is our smoking population? • Would our student body support a smoke-free or tobacco-free campus?

  12. 23,653 student population at MTSU Spring 2010 $ 53% women $ 47% men • 1290 students surveyed (5.5%) $ 54% women $ 46% men

  13. Do you consider yourself a smoker?No 82% Yes 18% Do you smoke on campus? No 79% Yes 21% CDC national estimates, 18-24 year olds:21.4% smoke

  14. Dip, chew, or use smokeless tobacco? 6% CDC national estimates:3.3% smoke

  15. Next? Sequencing? • Write a policy proposal • Do due diligence: campus community organizing - Solicit support from like-minded student organizations - Solicit support from broader circles of campus organizations • Work for a resolution by SGA • Meet with VP for Business and Finance and seek administration support • Work for a resolution by Faculty Senate • Work for a resolution by Staff Senate

  16. Democracy in Action

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