Should the Cornell University Ithaca Campus Be a Smoke Free Campus?
Submitted by Beth McKinney and Ruth Merle-Doyle
Cornell University Wellness Program
February, 2009

With national attention on the effects of smoking and second hand smoke on health, this is an opportune time to examine possible strategies available to Cornell University to promote smoke free options. Furthermore, there are implications to the environment related to the litter and clean up of cigarette remnants; these affect the campus sustainability efforts.

This document outlines the issues, the pros, and the cons around becoming a totally smoke free campus. This document can be instrumental in the decision making process.

Cornell University’s Current Smoking Policy

Cornell University prohibits the smoking or carrying of lighted cigars, cigarettes or pipes in all indoor facilities, enclosed bus stops, and university-owned or controlled vehicles, except in special situations defined in the smoking policy document. The reason for this policy is that the university is concerned with the health of individuals when on Cornell owned or occupied property and is also concerned with meeting the requirements of all local and state laws. Building layouts, window and entryway locations, and environmental factors such as air currents and prevailing winds may vary from building to building. Therefore, building coordinators or other university officials (Employee Health and Safety) may impose more restrictive prohibitions in areas surrounding buildings for which they have responsibility, resulting in entrance restrictions greater than twenty-five feet. The smoking restrictions do not apply in the case of individual dwelling rooms and residence hall apartments where smoking is permitted per existing guidelines, policies, requirements, and contracts of Campus Life or Greek Life facilities owned by Cornell University.

Reasons Why Cornell Should Consider Becoming Fully Smoke Free

As a leader in multiple domains, Cornell can be one of the first large scale campuses to encourage healthy behaviors of it’s students, employees and visitors. The 2006 Surgeon General’s Report on The Health Consequences of Involuntary Exposure to Tobacco Smoke confirmed the known health effects of secondhand smoke exposure, including immediate adverse effects on the cardiovascular system, and coronary heart disease and lung cancer. The report concluded that there is no safe level of exposure to secondhand smoke and that establishing smoke free environments is the only proven way to prevent exposure.

As the body of scientific evidence becomes larger and more precise, it is now possible to prove that smoke free policies not only work to protect nonsmokers from the death and disease caused by exposure to secondhand smoke, but also have an immediate effect on the public’s health . Researcher James L. Repace, Visiting Professor, Tufts University, found “that under some conditions, outdoor levels of tobacco smoke can be as high as indoor levels of secondhand smoke.”

The question that needs to be considered remains: Is transitioning all of the indoor and outdoor spaces of the Ithaca Cornell campus to a smoke free environment worth the cost? Is providing a complete environment free of secondhand tobacco smoke worth the price of further restricting the rights of smokers? Also, would the enforcement and cost of such a large-scale policy change be worth the benefit?

University of Iowa Smoking Policy

The American NonSmokers’ Rights Foundation (ANRF) has compiled a list of colleges and universities that have smokefree policies. There are now at least 160 campuses that stand out with policies facilitating 100% smokefree indoor and outdoor areas, with no exemptions. Of the 160, the University of Iowa stands in the minority as a large scale campus to make such a change.

As of July 1, 2008, the university smoking policy reads that “the University of Iowa (UI) is a smoke-free facility. Smoking is prohibited in any building, vehicle, or outdoor area owned, leased, or controlled by the University.” Additionally stated in the policy is that “when any person enters the grounds of the University, any smoking material shall be extinguished and disposed of in an appropriate receptacle at the perimeter of the grounds of the University.” UI offers a number of resources for faculty, staff and students who want to quit using tobacco. For faculty and staff, UI Wellness offers smoking cessation services and reimbursement of up to $300 for nicotine replacement therapy or prescription medication to aid in quitting smoking. For students who smoke or chew tobacco, Health Iowa offers a free tobacco cessation program that includes counseling and various therapy products. UI’s new policy is a benchmark for larger universities to follow. In terms of scale, enforcement, and cessation offerings, UI would be an ideal case to follow if Cornell were to implement such a change.

Savings Estimates

By promoting a complete smokefree environment, Cornell would save in many ways related to tobacco use including health care costs, time away from work/productivity costs, maintenance related to tobacco refuse, etc. Research has shown that people who use tobacco incur higher medical costs, see physicians more often and are admitted to hospitals for longer periods when compared to nonsmokers. According to the American Cancer Society, a study of health care utilization in 20,831 “employees of a single, large employer showed employees who smoked had more hospital admissions per 1,000 (124 vs. 76), had a longer average length of stay (6.47 vs. 5.03 days), and made six more visits to health care facilities per year than nonsmoking employees.”

In addition, other research has revealed tobacco use burdens employers with other costs such as lost productivity, increased cost of life insurance policies, and mortality costs. One study found that on average, individuals who use tobacco miss 6.16 days of work per year compare to individuals that do not use tobacco, who miss 3.86 days of work per year.

Cornell’s Grounds Department estimates yearly savings of $150,000 if they did not have to clean smokers refuse campus wide.

Students and Enrollment

Information on how perspective students feel about a smokefree campus is almost nonexistent. The only resource available was blog-style question posted by Keith Williamson, University Physician from Midwestern State University. His question read “Does anyone have data reflecting the impact of instituting a smoke free campus policy on enrollment?” 8 of 12 respondents shared the following general information:

Growth positive response to smoke free policy:

• up
• up substantially
• up, a record enrollment
• up 3%

Growth negative response to smoke free policy:
None

The American College Health Association has a position paper on tobacco that mirrors our current policy. http://www.acha.org/info_resources/tobacco_statement.pdf The only exception is banning smoking in the stadium. In 2004, after the NYS Clean Indoor Air law took effect, Gannett conducted a tobacco use survey with a stratified random sample of undergraduate and graduate/professional students (response rate= 1,246). In this survey, students were asked to report their level of agreement with several tobacco policies. In general there was an increase in support of the policy since the 2002 survey (before the NYS Clean Indoor Air took effect). Here is a review of policy findings:

• Smoking areas should be set away from buildings: 80% agreed/strongly agreed
• Smoking should not be allowed in any campus building: 81% agreed/strongly agreed
• The social atmosphere on campus promotes tobacco use: 11% agreed/strongly agreed
• I support the NYS law that bans smoking in all workplaces, bars and restaurants: 80% agreed/strongly agreed
• I would prefer smoking be prohibited at public outdoor events held in Schoelkopf Stadium: 67% agreed/strongly agreed

The American Cancer Society, in it’s booklet “Advocating for A Tobacco-Free Campus: A manual for college and university students” describes its intent as:
”Prohibit smoking within all university-affiliated buildings (including residence halls, administrative facilities, classrooms, and fraternities and sororities) and at all university-sponsored events — both indoor and outdoor. Classrooms, dorm rooms, offices, living rooms, etc. should all be explicitly stated in your policy. Smoke-Free campuses are becoming more popular as the dangers of exposure to secondhand smoke and the increased risk of fire becomes more apparent. Beginning in Fall 2000, the University of Iowa, University of New Hampshire, and Penn State University joined many other educational institutions, including Harvard and Wellesley, in banning smoking in all dormitories.” Currently, there is no smoking in University residence halls. This is university policy as well as New York State law.

Possible Concerns about Cornell University Becoming Totally Smoke Free:

• Backlash about taking away rights of students, faculty, staff, and the many visitors to campus, including international visitors.
• Policy may be hard to enforce.
• Smoking cessation support would have to be increased for both students and employees. Support includes financial support for smoking cessation aids, medications, and training.
• Proximity of “legal” locations to smoke may be hard to locate. Off campus is a long way for people on central campus.
• It could potentially take much more time for employees to smoke if “legal” locations are a distance from their building. This could be a productivity concern. (On average, it takes approximately 6 minutes to go outside and smoke a cigarette.)

Possibilities

1. Cornell’s campus can go smokefree, for both indoor and outdoor spaces.
2. Cornell can continue with current policy.
3. Cornell can expand policy to include no smoking in stadiums (as requested by student survey.)
4. Cornell can expand policy to facilitate a non-smoking policy during work hours for employees who work outside (ie Grounds department.)

Resources:

1. http://www.no-smoke.org
2. http://www.surgeongeneral.gov/library/secondhandsmoke/
3. http://www.repace.com/pdf/OTS_FACT_SHEET.pdf
4. http://www.no-smoke.org/pdf/smokefreecollegesuniversities.pdf
5. http://www.uiowa.edu/homepage/smoking/index.html
6. http://www.westerntc.edu/tobaccofree/rationale.asp
7. http://www.welcoa.org/freeresources/pdf/employersguide_2nd_edition.pdf
8. http://www.cancer.org/downloads/COM/Advocating_For_A_Tobacco-Free_Campus.doc