Schools

Clearing the Air: UM-Dearborn Goes Smoke-Free July 1

Following two years of preparations, all three campuses of the University of Michigan will enact the smoking ban Friday.

Come this Friday, the click of lighters and the puff of smokers will be no more at University of Michigan campuses, including UM-Dearborn.

The university's comprehensive programs to transition its grounds into smoke-free zones will become official July 1, when all three campuses will officially ban smoking in all public areas.

The plan, announced in April 2009 and finalized in September’s University Smoke-Free Initiative Report, prohibits smokers from lighting up on UM-Dearborn’s campus–except from within the privacy of their own cars. It will make UM-Dearborn one of more than 260 college and university campuses nationwide that are smoke-free.

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University administration partnered with faculty and student leaders to help prepare the institution for the change, according to Jeff Evans, UM-Dearborn’s vice chancellor of business affairs. This collaboration took the form of focus groups designed to identify how to best implement the policy and broadcast its principles across the university.

“It really comes down to a number of things around communication and education,” Evans said. “The communication team is giving people advance notice, but with that we’re passionate and committed to help people being healthy.”

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The administration has spent two years spreading the word regarding the policy through on-campus signage, information sessions and social media, Evans said. Additionally, the school has formulated a wide-ranging net of support and educational services to aid students who wish to quit smoking, he said.

The push for social change fits with the goals of the university’s MHealthy initiative, a program designed in 2005 to encourage a culture of health within the school, Evans said.

“There are immediate, positive health effects when an individual quits smoking,” he said. “(The policy) is really designed to be respectful, help people have an understanding and provide a set of resources to them should they wish to seek out help.”

Despite the university’s extensive transitional programs, in the final days before the ban, the policy remains a bit, well, smoky to some students. There are still communication improvements to be made, according to UM-Dearborn Student Government President David Knezek.

“We could improve in informing the students of the services we’re going to try and provide them in terms of helping them quit smoking,” Knezek suggested.

Still, the policy change has received widespread support from the student body, Knezek said, adding that he anticipates university administration to step up its information strategy come July 1.

"The students should expect a large push marketing-wise,” Knezek said. “The university and student government will definitely be a part of that in terms of letting (students, faculty and staff) know what resources are available to them if they need help quitting smoking.”

Olivia Hornshaw, a UM-Dearborn junior, said that while she supports the smoke-free initiative, she still has questions about the policy.

“(Administration) didn’t say how they were going to enforce it or what the penalties were going to be,” Hornshaw said. “I haven’t heard much about that aspect ... That’s something I would like to know.”

The university’s enforcement plan is one of the few unclear aspects of the policy. But Evans said the strategy isn’t as extreme as some would guess–no smoke police, no tickets.

“Our supervisors and leaders have responsibilities for enforcing policy,” Evans said. “We’re not going to be out writing tickets; we’re not going to be out using public safety to enforce this. Our leadership groups for students, faculty and staff will be enforcing this.”

The strategy will consist primarily of peer-to-peer oversight and voluntary compliance, Evans said. The 2010 report outlining the policy change concluded that the university “should not consider fines or other explicit penalties as means of primary enforcement.”

Individuals who come across on-campus smokers are encouraged to handle the situation “very respectfully” and emphasize the university’s educational programs and support services, Evans said.

The policy change isn’t designed to preach, he added.

“When someone comes up on someone who is smoking, it’s not necessarily to teach tell why they should quit,” Evans said. “It’s really to help educate them around the policy.

"We’re going to be very sensitive to our students once the implementation goes into effect July 1.”


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