Cigarette butts litter Pioneer Cemetery and the edge of campus. Groups of students and staff are constantly finding new places to smoke, yet the University of Oregon is coming up on its second year anniversary of being a tobacco-free campus.
Can the university boast being tobacco free?
University Health Center Director of Health Promotion Paula Staight said she doesn’t have specific data regarding the decrease of smoking on campus, but has seen frequency of students smoking on campus has decreased.
Staight did recognize the fact that students are still smoking in the campus area.
“There are some hot spots on campus,” Staight said.
In hopes of combating the problem, over the summer the health center plans on coming up with a plan to inform campus of the perimeters of the ban and to increase its enforcement. The exclusion of the use of e-cigarettes as well as cigarettes and other forms of tobacco will be more specifically enforced.
Staight, along with representatives from Oregon State University, presented both universities’ tobacco-free efforts at the 2014 National Health Conference.
“All campuses seem to be dealing with similar issues regarding enforcement and butt litter,” Staight said. “That said, it takes a while for social norms to change and evolve and we are just going on two years out.”
The hope is that a tobacco free campus will lead to less smoking.
“Generally stricter tobacco policy leads to less smoking and higher quit rates,” Staight said.
The Health Center offers many alternatives to aid students who are trying to stop smoking.
Health promotion specialist Renee Mulligan said that about 40 students per term accept the help offered in the form of a nicotine replacement therapy program.
To take part in this program, a student would first visit the Peer Health Office and request the free nicotine replacement therapy.
Then, the student is asked to fill out a personal action plan in addition to a peer health educator going through an intake questionnaire with the student.
At this point, the student is able to collect the product free of charge from the pharmacy.
“Students generally need two to three boxes to quit,” Mulligan said. “So, they are asked to come to the Peer Health office each time to check in.”
The current process for students to receive replacement therapy will remain through the summer, though it is subject to change in the fall.
The tobacco ban on the UO campus started in fall 2012. It came as schools across Oregon and the country have begun looking at and implementing tobacco bans.
The ban at the UO came with a $1 million grant from PacificSource Health Solutions, which has been used to implement a tobacco-free strategy for the first five years. This was part of $4 million donation by PacificSource that also went to Oregon State University for a similar initiative.