Posted on 11/22/2013 10:01:45 AM PST by TurboZamboni
MEMORANDUM
November 19, 2013
TO: American University Community
FROM: Beth Muha, AVP of Human Resources, and Project Team Co-Chair Rob Hradsky, AVP and Dean of Students, and Project Team Co-Chair
SUBJECT:
Transition to a Tobacco- and Smoke-Free Campus: Updates & Reminders
_______________________________________________________________________________ The start of this fall semester brought a significant change to our campus community as the university became a tobacco- and smoke-free campus in August, joining almost 1,200 schools around the country that already are smoke-free, and almost 800 that are also tobacco-free. The university implemented this new policy after years of discussion as an effort to support the health of our community, as well as the university’s sustainability commitments.
Our new policy, prohibits the use of tobacco products, e-cigarettes, hookah, and medical marijuana on property owned, leased or otherwise controlled by the university including campus owned, leased, or rented vehicles. This policy applies to faculty, staff, students, vendors, guests, and contractors.
Watch this interactive slide show to learn more about AU's decision to become a tobacco- and smoke-free campus.
We would like to thank the community for the positive feedback, response, and cooperation in launching this new campus initiative. Three months into this new campus initiative, we are seeing a lot of progress. We have observed a reduction in the amount of tobacco-related products littering the campus, as well as the number of cigarette butts on the ground, especially in high traffic areas such as in front of residence halls and Mary Graydon Center. Less litter around campus is having a positive impact on our environmental footprint.
Designated Smoking Areas Will be Phased Out in December The three temporary designated smoking areas (Kogod ellipse, walkway behind SIS next to Roper Hall, and the green space next to the tennis courts behind the Sports Center Annex) designated to help with the transition to a tobacco- and smoke-free environment will be removed on December 23, as we head into the winter break. In January, and going forward, the use of tobacco products will be prohibited on campus.
Enforcement
To assist with compliance towards the tobacco- and smoke-free policy, “Tobacco-Free Ambassadors”—comprised of part-time student workers and staff volunteers—walk campus grounds to educate and inform the community and our visitors of our new policy.
If you observe an individual not respecting our policy, we encourage you to talk to them about our new policy. Tips and suggested language for approaching an individual in a respectful manner can be found here. If you do not feel comfortable with this approach, please call 202-885-2527 or email tobaccofree@american.edu to register your concern.
If they can determine the legality of marijuana, they can do the same for tobacco. No sense in whining about it.
Federal government prohibited marijuana. This is local ordinance prohibiting the use of tobacco.
I just don’t want to hear the stoners bellyaching when it hits them in the ass too. They’ve helped spread the “tobacco is evil” meme.
Duplex next door. Some years ago, a surfer dude with DU stickers on his VW van moved in with his drum set. Gone now.
But we like local, don’t we? Or do we want the Federal Leviathan when it suits us? The truth remains...somebody ELSE decides. It’s the system we’ve adopted. Most people like it that way, until it hits them personally, of course. Don’t know what it is with people that they can’t honestly answer the question “Would I want them to be able to do that to me?”
Instead, it’s “screw ‘em, it doesn’t affect me”. Yet.
Nope. You're not dumb. Liberals, on the other hand...
Certain cig smells make me gag. Not sure which brand(s). But there is a cigar shop near where I work that is the most pleasant aroma (next to the bacon in the morning, and carne adovada and grilled chicken at noon from the restaurants near it) in the entire area.
You are absolutely right. I am renting right now and have a no smoking clause in the rental agreement. My Grandson lives with me and smokes but I make him go out side to do it. I do not want to lose my deposit when I move.
The land lords crabbing about damaged property had the right to remove those tenants who smoked in violation of their agreement and I am sure they kept their cleaning deposit.
Apparently local can’t prevent two men from bumstuffing but it can prevent adults from using legal substances in the privacy of their own homes.
Funny that.
I own and live in a townhouse. They are most definitely individual houses as I have a set of the architectural drawings. There are two walls with a space between filled with insulation. I can't hear anything and certainly not smell anything from either house on the sides of me.
My back garden has thick brick walls 8 ft. tall and no one can see in my garden or me see in theirs.
I cannot tell there is anyone living near me and what I do in my house is no one’s business - as I light up my cigarette.
The last apartment I lived in kept my deposit because I didn’t vacuum out the rails on the slide windows. It was just an excuse. They all do it. That was 30 yrs ago but according to my daughter now they just flat out lie to keep any deposit and then charge more.
Do you want the gov’t to have the power to prevent bumstuffing? Then you want it to have the power to stop tobacco use too.
It’s like the old joke: We already know what we are, now we’re just haggling over the details. It’s the INEVITABLE result of the “go ahead and crack down on somebody else” mentality.
Corporate apartment in CA, Seal Beach area, nice place. Oddly, it had shoddy thin walls that “leaked” from the electrical sockets of the shared wall.
Smoker moved in when I was traveling, and when I returned and went to my apartment it stank with cigarette smoke. I thought maintenance was in my room and smoked for hours. Contacted the manager and, no, no maintenance workers were in my apartment when I was gone.
That night a thin cloud of bluish-white smoke started to emerge from the electrical sockets on one wall.
Yikes, I thought we had an electrical short, but quickly smelled cigarette smoke, heavy smell of cigarette smoke wafting in from the apartment sharing the wall.
I went next door and met the guy that moved in and asked him to stop smoking because it was like he was smoking in my apartment (your ‘rights” extend just for far and most certainly do not extend into my apartment.)
Surprised me, nice guy, very apologetic, especially when he went into my apartment and saw the cloud of smoke around the overhead light. Never again smoked in his apartment and went outside to the parking lot to do so.
As a side story, for some strange reason, this professional apartment complex had a bunch of Obama’s sons move in. . .complete with the loud THUMPA-THUMPA black SUV. They would wake me, and many others, every early morning when they would get back, usually around 0230hrs.
One morning when I was headed to work (at 0430hrs), I wrote in the dust on their SUV’s back window: “The Police KNOW!”
Within a day, according to the manager, they quickly moved out, left no forwarding address or anything. Even left furnature.
Most rational people would answer that question with a resounding NO. However, there are many people, such as yourself, who have the attitude of "They did it to me, so now it's your turn" and are perfectly content to sit by and watch it happen, and even cheer it on.
I do admit, it does give me a chuckle. Welcome to the party.
To me this sounds like a reasonable and good law, as smokers inflict their cancerous habit on non-smokers.
It gives you a heck of a lot more than a chuckle - I’ve been witness here of your orgasmic reactions to these articles and how folks who are unlike you and your fellow travelers react.
A rather oxymoronic statement coming with such a screen name.
Maybe a guffaw, tops.
I'm a smoker but wouldn't smoke indoors if it goes into my neighbor's. The solution is to caulk every crevice and get airtight wall fixtures (used for pressurized rooms). Or get a separate house
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