Campus-Wide Message Announces New Policy for Healthier Campus Community
UMass Dartmouth's campus will go smoke-free, tobacco-free, and electronic cigarette-free scheduled to be effective June 1, 2015 and begin developing a robust and accessible smoking cessation program to help current smokers quit. In a message to the UMass Dartmouth community, Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic and Student Affairs Mohammad Karim and Vice Chancellor for Administration and Finance Mark Preble announced a new campus-wide smoking policy.
After careful consideration of national trends and campus feedback, a committee of faculty, staff, and students has recommended UMass Dartmouth implement a new policy "to draw a bright line on this issue by banning all smoking, tobacco, and e-cigarette products from the entire campus."
UMass Dartmouth will join a growing number of higher education institutions across the country and in Massachusetts which have moved to become either smoke-free (1,182) or tobacco-free (798) and three states (Arkansas, Iowa, and Oklahoma) that now require all of their campuses to be smoke-free. In Massachusetts, 10 of the 29 public institutions and several private institutions have become smoke-free.
According to the message sent campus-wide today:
"We will be working with faculty, student, and union leadership on the details of implementing the new policy in a manner that leads to a healthier campus community. We are fortunate to have a very strong Health Services department and a national award-winning Peer Health Educator organization on campus to assist with the effort."