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Smoke Free Campus Policy

Objective

Jacksonville University is invested in maintaining a safe and healthy environment for our students, employees, alumni, and visitors. Research shows that the smoking of tobacco products constitutes a significant health hazard. The smoking of tobacco products has been specifically identified as a contributing factor in a number of university facility fires across the nation, many of which have resulted in fatalities or major damage.

Rationale

  • Tobacco use is the leading cause of preventable disease and death in the United States (www.cdc.gov).
  • Research findings confirm, and the U.S. Surgeon General affirms, that tobacco use and exposures to secondhand smoke by non-users constitute a significant health hazard (www.surgeongeneral.gov).
  • Jacksonville University is invested in protecting the health and wellbeing of its employees, students and visitors.
  • Adoption of a smoke-free policy has the potential to reduce maintenance costs, improve productivity, reduce initiation of new tobacco users, and increase tobacco-cessation rates (www.cdc.gov).
  • Through the Florida Clean Indoor Air Act, the state of Florida acknowledges that lighted tobacco products constitute significant health hazards to users and non-users (www.leg.state.fl.us).
  • Lighted tobacco products are also a safety concern since they have been identified as contributing factors in numerous accidental fires. Currently, 766 college campuses in the U.S. have adopted tobacco-free related policies (www.tobaccofreecampus.org).

Policy

Effective August 7, 2017, Jacksonville University shall be a “smoke-free” campus, and prohibits the use of all lighted tobacco products on all property that is owned, operated, leased, occupied, or controlled by the University. “Property” for purposes of this policy includes:

  1. Buildings, structures, enclosed bridges and walkways, university carts and vehicles, personal vehicles in these areas, and any other indoor areas owned or managed by the university.
  2. Parking lots, parking garages or structures, grounds, sidewalks, rooftops, plazas, courtyards, entrance/exit ways, university-owned or -leased vehicles, and any other outdoor areas owned or managed by the university.

This policy applies to all Jacksonville University students, employees, consultants, contractors, visitors and external individuals, companies renting university-owned space, and property owned or managed by Jacksonville University.

Definitions

  1. “Smoking” means inhaling, exhaling, burning, or carrying any lighted or heated cigar, cigarette, or pipe or any other lighted or heated tobacco or plant product, including marijuana, intended for inhalation in any manner or form. “Smoking” also includes the use of an e-cigarette that creates a vapor, in any manner or in any form, or the use of any oral smoking device for the purpose of circumventing the prohibition of smoking in this policy.
  2. “Tobacco Products” means all forms of tobacco, including but not limited to cigarettes, cigars, pipes, water pipes (hookah), and e-cigarettes (any device intended to simulate smoking).
  3. “Members of the University community” include its faculty, staff, students, volunteers, customers, and visitors.
  4. “Property” includes buildings, structures, grounds, parking lots or structures, enclosed bridges and walkways, sidewalks, university carts and vehicles, as well as personal vehicles in these areas.