Tobacco-Free Campus

Our Commitment

In 2017 UR signed the Healthy Campus 2020 pledge. This is a commitment to taking necessary steps that would make lasting impacts on our entire campus community, and advocating towards a Tobacco-Free campus would help us meet that commitment. A Tobacco-free policy would help improve the health habits of our students, faculty, staff and visitors and provide an environment free of litter.

 

A Safe and Healthy Campus

Over 2,000 colleges and universities in the United States that have already committed to smoke and tobacco-free policies (Foundation, 2019, para 2). The hope is that the University would follow the lead of these other schools who have made a commitment of healthy living to those that work and study at smoke and Tobacco-Free universities.

The CDC reports that 70% of smokers would like to quit using tobacco

 

Your Health and Well-being

The Truth Initiative points our three benefits of taking a campus Tobacco-Free. Those three benefits include: reducing smoking in young adults, create educational opportunities on the effects of tobacco, and economic and environmental benefits (initiative, 2017).

The CDC reports that 480,000 deaths a year are directly related to tobacco use and 41,000 deaths are related to secondhand smoke.

 

Respect for the Environment

Cigarette butts are the most littered item in the world and cities spend millions each year to clean them up. Smoke and tobacco-free campus policies also significantly reduce campus fires.