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JOHNSON CITY – A
campuswide message today from East
Tennessee State University
President Dr. Paul E. Stanton Jr.
announces that ETSU is expanding
its current Smoking and
Tobacco-Free Workplace Policy,
established in 1997, to limit all
use of tobacco products to private
vehicles.
Stanton said, “In
recognition of our commitment to
provide for everyone a clean,
healthy environment conducive to
working, learning and living, East
Tennessee State University will
officially become a
‘Tobacco-Free Campus’
on Aug. 11, 2008, six months from
today. Smoking and all other
tobacco usage will be permitted
only in private
vehicles.”
Reiterating what he initially
noted more than a decade ago,
Stanton pointed out that ETSU is
the flagship health sciences
university in the entire Tennessee
Board of Regents system, and, as
such, the issue of tobacco use has
even more significance.
“We set an example for the
rest of the state in 1997 by
banning the use of tobacco in all
university buildings,”
Stanton said. “Revising our
policy to reflect increasing health
concerns about smoking and the use
of other tobacco products is an
appropriate response for ETSU
regarding these ongoing
issues.”
The university began the process
of strengthening its policy at the
behest of the ETSU Faculty and
Staff senates, as well as other
personnel and students. The
Tobacco-Free Campus Policy
addresses expressed concerns
regarding personal health issues
and campus environmental
aesthetics, and further notes that
“failure to address the use
of tobacco products on campus would
constitute a violation of the
Americans with Disabilities Act,
the Vocational Rehabilitation Act
and Tennessee law.”
ETSU is sensitive to the
importance of tobacco in the
Northeast Tennessee, Southwest
Virginia and Western North Carolina
region, and Stanton said he is
confident that researchers will
continue to explore alternative
uses of tobacco that would benefit
the economy and health care. For
example, such beneficial uses might
include vitamins and other
pharmaceuticals.
The Tobacco-Free Campus Policy
is in effect 24 hours a day
year-round and applies to the main
campus in Johnson City as well as
all other university sites,
ETSU-affiliated off-campus
locations and clinics, and ETSU
facilities on the campus of the
James H. Quillen Veterans Affairs
Medical Center at Mountain Home.
Tobacco use is also prohibited in
all state vehicles.
Over the next several months,
the university will post signs and
banners to ensure that visitors and
members of the ETSU community are
aware of the Tobacco-Free Campus
Policy and the restriction to
private vehicles.
Stanton said, “And, in
understanding the addictive nature
of tobacco products, we are
offering current information about
available resources for the benefit
of persons who wish to stop using
tobacco, at
www.etsu.edu/human-resources/smokingcessationresources.htm.”
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