Thursday, March 26, 2009

Staff Academic Council supports Smoke-Free Campus

Great news!  Today, the Staff Academic Council (representing the Gallaudet and Clerc Campuses) voted on and passed the following motion with a 8 to 1 vote!
We, members of the Staff Academic Council, move to have Gallaudet join with other universities involved in the DC Tobacco Free Campus consortium (DCTFC) to support the transition of Gallaudet University from being a smoking campus to becoming a 100% smoke-free campus (excluding the Kellogg Conference Hotel).
The faculty senate meeting ran out of time, so our motion was moved to this coming Monday 4/13/09.  Think smoke-free thoughts!  

Monday, March 23, 2009

Gallaudet's Current Smoking Policy

Gallaudet University is dedicated to providing a healthy, comfortable, and productive work environment for faculty, teachers, staff, students, and guests. Reaching and maintaining this goal requires the understanding and patience of all members of the campus community.

Smoking is not permitted in any University or Clerc Center building or in any University owned vehicle. Smoking is permitted on the campus grounds in areas designated as smoking permitted and where receptacles are placed. There are no smoking breaks. At all times, the right of the non-smoker to protect his/her health and comfort takes precedence over another person's right to smoke.

Violations of this policy by employees should be reported to the appropriate unit administrator. Violations of this policy by students should be reported to the appropriate student life administrator.

For the full document, click here to go to the Administrations & Operations Manual Section 1.07 on Smoking

Friday, March 13, 2009

Kick 'Butts' Day - March 25th

Gallaudet's very own Peer Health Advocates invites you to celebrate Kick Butts Day with them on Wednesday, March 25. On this day, help empower each other to stand out, speak up, and seize control against Big Tobacco with fun, educational activities and events.

The Kick Butts Day celebration will be held at the JSAC G-Area, 11 a.m.-2 p.m. It's time to kick those cigarette butts out!

Contact: kyle.gilstrap@gallaudet.edu

Health & Wellness Programs (HWP) at Gallaudet also hosts the Great American Smoke-out every year in November.  In January, HWP provided New Year's Resolutions that included information on smoking. In the past, HWP has done workshops about cancer and smoking.  Interested in having one on campus?  Click here to get in touch with the HWP/PHAs!

Gallaudet University Student Health Services

Gallaudet's medical center provides medical care, health awareness and preventive medicine and also has adopted a smoke-free Gallaudet mission.  The below section is copied from their official page, click here to visit their full page.
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The mission of Smoke-Free at Gallaudet is to encourage a positive health environment for everyone. We will strive to achieve this mission by:
  • Convincing members of the university community that tobacco poses a serious health hazard for both smokers and non-smokers.
  • Preventing future generations of Gallaudet University students, faculty, and staff from becoming addicted to nicotine.
  • Helping current smokers who have decided to quit, and giving them the tools to enable them to stop smoking.
  • Throughout the year, the Student Health Service holds various smoke-free awareness events. 
The following items are available at these events or at the Student Health Service:
  • Pamphlets
  • Quit kits
  • Fact sheets
  • Promotional items designed to help smokers quit
Click here to go to the full link:  http://www.gallaudet.edu/af/shs_smokefree.xml

Sunday, March 1, 2009

Dangers of Third-Hand Smoke


(Click on photo to enlarge)

2/25 DC Tobacco Free Campuses Meeting Summary

Good Afternoon DCTFC,

I am pleased to report that yesterday’s meeting was a very productive as we continue to make great strides toward going tobacco free campus together. Thank you to Georgetown University for hosting us. Yesterday, we welcomed our newest members to the consortium, Gallaudet University, whose members provided great information regarding their efforts to become a tobacco free campus. The Smokefree Gallaudet team has put together an impressive site, www.smokefreegallaudet.org. The website includes the latest news in tobacco use on campus, minutes from the DCTFC meetings, a PowerPoint presentation, letters to administrators, student polls, recent studies, and much more! If you haven’t already, you should definitely check it out. It would be great if each college could have a blogsite for this initiative in the near future. Gallaudet has also secured the support of the Student Congress for a tobacco free campus policy and will now move on to the Faculty Senate!

During the meeting, we reviewed a draft of the petition language and decided this tool would be most useful when approaching student and faculty congress. We also decided to use Campuses for Clean Air’s idea to implement a postcard campaign on each campus that will include talking points and facts that will encourage support of a tobacco free campus policy.

*We also decided to change the DCTFC logo at least until we get the full support from our administrators.

The following action steps were identified and agreed upon by the meeting attendees:
  • Each school must find out what the protocol is for using petitions on campus and whether a student’s ID# is required in addition to their signature
  • Identify potential talking points to include on the post card (please bring 3-4 ideas)
  • Bring ideas for the Tobacco Free Campus Consortium logo and name. One idea was to name the group “Campuses for Clean Air – Tobacco Free Inside and Out”)
  • Create a timeline for going tobacco free campus – list ideas for activities, etc. to help change the social norm on campus
  • Create a “pyramid” that includes the key groups and individuals (from most important to least) whose support is necessary in order to become a tobacco free campus.
  • GW (Campuses for Clean Air) will email a copy of their postcard and talking points to ALADC.
  • ALADC will set up a list-serv for the entire consortium to contact one another.
Our next meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, March 18th at 6:00pm. Location is TBD. As promised, I am attaching a copy of The Link, which includes the article on Thirdhand Smoke (posted on this site). For more information on thirdhand smoke, logon to www.ceasetobacco.org.

As always, we appreciate your commitment to your students and residents of the District of Columbia. If you have any questions, please contact me or Debra Annand at 202-546-5864.

Warmest Regards,

Shawntay Warren
Communications Manager
American Lung Association of D.C.
530 7th Street, SE
Washington, D.C. 20003
Phone: 202-546-5864
Mobile: 202-441-1537
website: www.aladc.org

Campuses for Clean Air


Many thanks to George Washington University for sharing this postcard with all of us!