Project seeks tobacco-free campus by 2012 
September 27, 2010 by Haley Etchison
Grant from CDC to fund anti-smoking initiative at UNLV
A partnership forged between the Southern Nevada Health District aims to secure a smoke-free UNLV by spring 2012, allocated by the CDC.
Through a $500,000 project, the nursing school is developing a comprehensive tobacco-free policy for UNLV along with other Southern Nevada colleges.
The health district is funding the work from a $14.6 million grant from the Centers for Disease Control, as part of their Communities Putting Prevention to Work Initiative, and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Community partnerships are part of the grant’s requirements.
UNLV assistant nursing professor Nancy York, who received the grant and heads the project, the work is ahead of schedule. She hopes to establish bans on smoking within a certain distance of campus buildings, outdoor arenas and gathering areas.
“The policy will apply to anyone who is on the UNLV campus, including faculty and staff members, students, contractors, vendors, volunteers and visitors. It will apply to all tobacco and smoking products,” stated Caroline El-Khoury, UNLV ‘s coordinator for student involvement and organization development.
El-Khoury said the policy will not violate personal rights. “This policy does not remove any person’s right to use tobacco, but it does prohibit such behaviors on university property,” she stated. “The policy is built on a foundation of respect for both tobacco users and those who do not use tobacco, engendering an environment of mutualrespectand clean air.”
Smoking indoors on college campuses is already prohibited by the Nevada Clean Indoor Air Act.
York said that creating a healthier campus environment is part of moving forward with UNLV ‘s goal of becoming a sustainability leader. According to the project’s webste, “The decision to become a tobacco-free campus aligns perfectly with the university’s urban sustainability initiative of achieving a healthy and sustainable Las Vegas community.”
It also claims that UNLV ‘s goal of becoming a high-level research institution positions it perfectly for the tobacco-free project to have a national impact. “UNLV ‘s status as an innovative, premier home for scholarship and professional leadership place it in an ideal position to institute this vitally important public health policy,” the website states.
York said she also expects UNLV to lead Nevada in promoting healthy living, by helping members of its community quit using tobacco. The school already offers help for students, faculty, staff and eligible alumni who want to quit using tobacco, through one-on-one and group counseling sessions at the Student Recreation and Wellness Center.
York and her team have begun distributing literature describing what it would mean to have a tobacco-free campus, and is asking for help from student organizations York said students are the project’s best resource, and experts on why tobacco use is harmful.
But, she says, they are also targeted the hardest by tobacco companies’ advertising. “When young adults get to college, they tend to experiment with their
new independence and can develop negative lifelong behaviors such as smoking,” York said.
“But we can’t just say ‘Smoking is unhealthy’ and expect them to quit. We need to build campus support and work together with students and staff to develop a plan that works and can be sustained.”
UNLV Public Affairs said in a statement that health agencies estimate between 24 and 30 percent of the nation’s college students smoke, roughly 10 percent higher than the general U.S. population.
An estimated 46,000 non-smokers in the United States die each year from heart disease related to secondhand smoke and people exposed to secondhand smoke at home or at work face an increased risk of heart disease of up to 30 percent.
Approximately 240 higher education institutions across the country have tobacco-free campuses.
Groups like the American Cancer Society: Colleges Against Cancer, the American Lung Association of Nevada, the March of Dimes Nevada Chapter, the Nevada Cancer Institute and the Nevada Tobacco Prevention Coalition have partnered with York’s team and four UNLV departments and divisions on the project.
According to a 2010 study of UNLV students, 85 percent believe exposure to secondhand smoke poses a moderate to severe health risk, and 84 percent say they have been exposed to secondhand smoke while on campus.
Though only 30 percent know UNLV ‘s current policy on tobacco use, which prohibits smoking inside buildings including dorms, 73 percent said they believe it is important to enact a campus-wide tobacco-free policy.
According to the study, 16 percent of tobacco users at UNLV smoke cigarettes, 16 percent smoke hookah and 6 percent smoke cigars.
The survey found that of student smokers, 70 percent have tried to quit in the past year and 60 percent want to quit before they graduate.
ON THE WEB:
Tobacco-Free UNLV: Tobaccofreeunlv.com
Tobaccofreeunlv@gmail.com
Oh lets see; Hard economic times, enrollment is down. So lets run off 30% of our students by fining or expelling them because they smoke. Or how about throw away alot of money by hasseling the people at the thomas and mack events . Hey cowboy You caint chew here. Or wow its nice you sent your son/ daughter here, but heres your fine for smoking in the parking lot, Mr Jones. Tell the so called doctor maybe she should work at one of those supposed 240 smoke free campuses. And finally all the contractors and employees that are on our campus. good luck.
All it takes is for good people to do nothing and the subversives win. WAKE upunlv, who is next. This attempt at eroding a right to smoke outside is so bad. Call your parents and the board o regents and get this nurse to spend the$500 G. on the things it is supposed to be spent on, not harassing the rest of us.
this university is funded by government tax dollars. smoking is considered a freedom of expression and is protected to certain limits (no smoking indoors, where food is served, etc) … if you want to smoke, smoke. tobacco farmers are people too
Dude… no. I propose we do the opposite and sell cigarettes out of vending machines, then maybe UNLV could send me to a class of less than 65 people
What about my right to be able to walk into a building on campus and not have to put up with the second hand smoke because someone has to do that there. You cant go into any enterence at the cbc and not smell smoke. And then there is always some moron upwind from me when walking to class so I am stuck putting up with it. Bottom line you may have a right to smoke but you dont have the right to infringe on my right to breath clean air and be healthy if you want to go kill yourself fine but leave me the heck out of it.
While I am fully in agreement with the hazards that smoking causes to your health (for both smokers and those inhaling it second handedly) AND I am pleased with the proactive approach people are taking against this terrible habit, I must interject with this: IF we are going to go so far as to ban this habit on campus then WHY are we not banning ALL unhealthy habits??? That would include removing the Panda Express from the Student Union. Why don’t we also force people to start using our gym a few times a week? As a pre-medical student, I am all about health and fitness but I am also coherent enough to realize that not all people feel as I do about their health. Forcing people to do something they don’t want to when the act itself is completely legal is simply going to irritate tuition paying students at our already financially suffering university. Maybe this coalition is not the best way to go about this issue.
You miss quoted in this article. I am Caroline El-Khoury and I never gave any such comments. Please review your source and correctly quote them.
Yes, it’s your right to smoke. It’s also my right to be in a public place without the stench of your smoke blowing in my face. It’s my right to protect myself from the dangers of secondhand smoke. If smokers on campus followed the rules and smoked only in permitted areas, it would be fine. However, you smokers congregate right outside of buildings such as the Student Union, Beam Hall, and the Lied Library and I have no choice but to walk through your cloud of filth. You light a cigarette and walk around with it, leaving a trail of smoke in your wake. And many of you don’t even bother to dispose of your butts properly; you throw them on the ground. Did you know that a butt takes over 100 years to biodegrade?
I applaud UNLV for this initiative and I hope managers at the Student Union and library read this. I suggest they ban smoking on Pied Plaza and the picnic tables south of the Union, north of the bookstore, and entrances to the library. Or at least move the cigarette butt cans further from building entrances.
I am a non-smoker who hates the smell of cigarettes and I think this is ridiculous. We are in the middle of budget cuts and a money crisis and we are going to spend even more money on stupid stuff like this?! I have been attending UNLV for 4 years and have never had a problem with second-hand smoke. Most smokers smoke outside and attempt to be away from nearby students. Not once have I had a coughing attack because someone blew smoke in my face. I personally don’t waste my money and health on cigarettes and I really don’t care that smokers do… by now they know the risks. It’s not the school’s job to make them quit smoking so paying for non-smoking propaganda should be left to health care organizations who feel the need to speak out against it. If UNLV HAS to spend money on this for those nonsmokers who have to throw fits about it, then fork out a couple hundred bucks for signs and designate “smoking areas” or something but $500,000 dollars… come on! I already don’t want to waste my money on cigarettes but this will force the school to spend money on anti-smoking crap instead of bettering my education, making me feel like cigarettes is ultimately going to cost me money regardless…. it’s so stupid.
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