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ÍøÆØ³Ô¹Ï goes smoke free Sept. 1

August 22, 2012
ÍøÆØ³Ô¹Ï Marketing and Communications

Effective Sept. 1, ÍøÆØ³Ô¹Ï will join more than 800 other post-secondary institutions across the country as a Smoke Free Campus. 

The decision came after reviewing the survey results of faculty, staff and students who were asked about ÍøÆØ³Ô¹Ï's role in regard to smoking and whether ÍøÆØ³Ô¹Ï should be smoke free. The survey, developed and conducted under the direction of Galen Louis, assistant professor and director of ÍøÆØ³Ô¹Ï's Public Health Program, indicated that only 8.8 percent of ÍøÆØ³Ô¹Ï's community smokes daily.

Nearly 70 percent said that they thought "the University should see this as a health issue and support policies to maintain clean air environments for all university personnel." In addition, 60.7 percent were in favor of ÍøÆØ³Ô¹Ï going completely smoke-free with 15.7 percent neutral and 1 percent with no opinion. The ÍøÆØ³Ô¹Ï survey also supports the findings of previous surveys conducted by the Bannock County Health Department.

Smoking cessation workshops will be available through Student Health Services and the ÍøÆØ³Ô¹Ï Wellness Center. In addition, smoking cessation patches are covered by the Student Health Fee for students and by the University’s health insurer, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Idaho.

"This is the culmination of a resolution adopted almost 11 months ago by ASÍøÆØ³Ô¹Ï urging ÍøÆØ³Ô¹Ï to go totally smoke free," said Shaun Stokes, immediate past president of the Associated Students of ÍøÆØ³Ô¹Ï. "Although there was some discussion about a modified smoke-free campus, in the end we felt that allowing smoking anywhere on campus defeated the purpose of having clean air environments. And building external structures for smoking limited to certain areas of the campus seemed a poor choice of resources."

ÍøÆØ³Ô¹Ï President Arthur C. Vailas commented on the University's new smoke-free status.

"I am pleased to have the opportunity to implement ASÍøÆØ³Ô¹Ï’s recommendation," Vailas said. "As the higher education institution in Idaho that offers the largest number of programs in the health professions, this new policy is consistent with our focus on health and wellness."

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