Truman to Ban Tobacco on Campus

The Truman State Student Affairs office will offer a smoking cessation program to prepare for the campus smoking ban effective July 1, 2015. The Student Smoking Cessation Program is a free service providing one-on-one coaching programs, nicotine replacement therapy and habit-reducing products to all Truman State students, faculty and staff during the spring and summer semesters. Products include nicotine gum, nicotine patches, nicotine lozenges, flavored chewing gums and toothpicks. The cessation program currently is available and students can contact any of the six coaches located at the Student Recreation Center, Student Affairs office or the Student Health Center. Lou Ann Gilchrist, Dean of Student Affairs, says Student Affairs worked with Missouri Partners in Prevention on a number of health-related initiatives. Gilchrist says this was the program MOPIP recommended and indicated they could provide training for a low cost. She says the program does not cost anything for the University, with services and products available for free. Gilchrist says the ban will be enforced through the Student Conduct Code because it is based on University policy. She says enforcement will be based on complaints the University receives about violations of the policy. Gilchrist says if someone reports a student, Student Affairs will e-mail them with a warning. If there are two or more complaints about the same party, Student Affairs will have a hearing and it could result in a conduct violation. Gilchrist says the process for reporting faculty and staff would likely happen through department heads. “[The smoking ban] is more about respect for the community, our desire to keep a healthy and well campus,” Gilchrist says. “We’re hoping the community will police itself.” Brenda Higgins, Director of the Student Health Center and University Counseling Services, says concerns for student health, recommendations from the University’s insurance provider and support from students and faculty were driving forces for passing the ban. Higgins says she is optimistic the cessation program will help make the transition to a smoke-free campus easier for tobacco-using students, staff and faculty. “Individuals don’t have to commit to stop smoking — we will be happy to provide resources just when they are on campus,” Higgins says. “We want to help [tobacco-users] in whatever way, whatever their goals are that they are wanting to achieve.” Higgins says Student Affairs is open to listening to student opinions. She says changes could be made to the cessation program if they would improve the experience for the students. Higgins says she aims to help all of Truman State adapt to the new policy. Junior Joe Haddox says he occasionally uses tobacco to cope with stress from the daily demands of being a student. “I didn’t know anything about a cessation program — I just knew I couldn’t smoke past a certain date,” Haddox says. Haddox says he teaches smoking cessation classes at Preferred Family Healthcare. He says it would be better to offer smoking cessation classes for groups on campus. Haddox says he would like to see a promotional campaign on campus to inform students of the cessation program available to them.