Almost 25 years since Missouri Western’s first tobacco policy came into effect, a policy that will ban the use of all tobacco products on campus will take effect on July 1, 2013.
After the Board of Governors approved a resolution supporting a tobacco-free campus at its April 2012 meeting, the office of human resources and the university’s Wellness Committee drafted a policy and won the support of the Student Government Association, the Faculty Senate and the Staff Senate. The proposal was recommended by Missouri Western’s Governance Advisory Council on Oct. 16 and signed by Dr. Robert Vartabedian, Missouri Western’s president, on Oct. 23.
The policy prohibits “smoking, the use of smokeless tobacco products and nicotine delivery devices in facilities, grounds and property owned, leased, or controlled by the university.”
Missouri Western’s first smoking policy in 1988 prohibited smoking in all campus buildings except in designated smoking areas. A second, stricter smoking policy was introduced in February 1991, when all buildings on campus became smoke-free.