News
UNK chews on being tobacco free
Monday, February 24, 2014
Kearney Hub
Pending a student vote Wednesday and Thursday, the University of Nebraska at Kearney may soon be a tobacco-free campus.
“It was a student idea,” said Ismael Torres, multimedia specialist for the Department of Counseling and Healthcare at UNK.
Torres also serves as adviser to Peer Health Education, the student organization leading the charge to make UNK tobacco free.
The idea, according to Torres, came about following a bi-annual survey conducted in spring 2012 by the Department of Counseling and Healthcare.
“Every two years — as a department — we conduct research. We ask students questions about their health behaviors and their perceptions of healthy behavior,” Torres said.
A total of 3,000 randomly selected students were chosen to participate in the American College Health Association — National College Health Assessment.
Of those 3,000, 690 responded. Data from respondents indicated that 73 percent of UNK students wanted a tobacco-free campus.
“We approached the idea of this becoming a reality after the 2012 ACHA-NCHA survey results were given back to us,” said Samantha Mitchell, a senior psychology major from Grand Island. Mitchell also serves as president of Peer Health Education. The group assessed the results and conducted additional research on how other universities have gone tobacco free.
“We wanted to look at what our peer institutions were doing, and we wanted to look at what other institutions were doing, so that we could be prepared for the obstacles that they faced, just so that we would have some groundwork laid for us, and a road map, in a sense, of how we should do things,” Torres said. “It’s very important to look at everything completely so that later on we’re not going back and saying, ‘We neglected this.’”
For the vote, students will be emailed a link to a survey on which they can submit their vote. If UNK students vote to go tobacco free, the next step is for Peer Health Education to submit a policy proposal to the Chancellor’s Cabinet. The cabinet will send the issue to the appropriate governing body.
“Anything of this magnitude needs to be presented to the chancellor at some point and his cabinet. Whether they decide that it needs to be a student government issue or a board of regents issue, that’s for them to decide,” Torres said.
If approved by the student vote and by the appropriate governing body, the policy then will be adopted on campus at a time that is to be determined.
“There are some times that would be strategic with things that are going on with UNK that would be a good time to transition campus into that,” said Kaitlyn Smejdir, a junior from Lincoln studying recreation management.
Smejdir theorized that the beginning of a new school year or the opening of the new Wellness Center at UNK would be good times.
In addition to cigarettes and cigars, the tobacco-free policy would extend to chewing tobacco and snuff.
“It’s easier to communicate that it is 100 percent tobacco free,” Smejdir said. “If we were to do something where it was smoke free, but you could still use other tobacco products, it can make it a little bit complicated.”
If UNK goes tobacco free, the university will post signs to tell students, staff, faculty and visitors not to light up or dip.
The policy, Smejdir said, would be self-enforced, which she said is common for tobacco-free policies.
Torres compared the policy and its enforcement to current policies for those living and working on campus.
“We have a governing authority that is set in place for students. Then, we have, obviously, a hierarchy that is set in place for faculty, and staff, and student workers,” Torres said.
“This is really no different than any other policy,” he said. “Although there have been people that have voiced concern, there are currently, to our knowledge, no organized or vocal opponents regarding this movement.”
For Mitchell, the issue of health trumps all other concerns. “It is a health and well-being issue. That’s been our main focus since the beginning, the health and wellness of everyone on campus,” she said. “With this policy we hope to make it a healthier and safer environment for all of UNK.”
