Should College Campuses Become Tobacco Free Without an Enforcement Plan?

Abstract

Tobacco-free campuses are a great public health initiative. Healthy People 2020 and Healthy Campus 2020 address tobacco use and young adults including college students. Sources indicate that of the more than 6,000 colleges and universities in the United States, less than 800 are either smoke free or tobacco free. An increasing number of college campus policy makers in the United States are implementing smoke-free or tobacco-free policies, including procedures for violators of these policies. However, without a clearly defined and actionable enforcement component, these policies serve little purpose. This has become a policy enforcement issue that campus leaders should address. Should colleges and universities become tobacco free, if enforcement is not implemented? College and university administrators should demonstrate leadership by having violators of tobacco-free campus policies held to the same standard as those who violate other policies.

Predictors of support among students, faculty and staff for a smoke-free university campus

“…However, considerable challenges in policy implementation have also been identified, including enforcement difficulties, displacement of smokers to the outskirts of campus, community relations, and safety concerns, among other issues (Baillie et al, 2009(Baillie et al, , 2011Fennell, 2012;Procter-Scherdtel and Collins, 2013a;Russette et al, 2014). Thus, despite the increasing number of smoke-free campus policies, there is only limited understanding of how to implement them successfully.…”

Perceptions of College and University Presidents Regarding Tobacco-Free Campus Policies

“…Indeed, the Bacchus Network, Glassman et al, and Fennell encourage having a strategy in place regarding enforcement before a policy is passed. 19,23,24 The critical details to work out involve determining what entity on campus will enforce the policy and what penalties will be inflicted.…”

Evaluating California Campus Tobacco Policies Using the American College Health Association Guidelines and the Institutional Grammar Tool

“…Using a social-norms approach with no explicit penalty, however, may be counterproductive, and result in feelings of dissatisfaction over a policy that exists in name only. 24 …”