WKU Owensboro final campus to go smoke-free, tobacco-free

October 17, 2019 | 3:25 am

Updated October 16, 2019 | 11:15 pm

File photo by AP Imagery

Western Kentucky University will be operating as a smoke-free, tobacco-free campus, starting in January 2020. This upcoming ban will be enforced at each WKU-owned or leased property, including the Bowling Green Main and South, Owensboro, Bowling Green Agriculture Farm and Glasgow campuses.

WKU says the smoking and tobacco ban is being implemented due to health hazards and safety concerns, including health issues that arise from inhaling second-hand smoke and fires that have been started inside campus buildings across America due to cigarettes.

The smoking and tobacco ban doesn’t just include cigarettes, but the prohibition of “inhaling, exhaling, burning or carrying any lighted or heated cigar, cigarette, or pipe. Smoking also includes the use of an electronic smoking device that creates an aerosol or vapor, in any matter or form,” the release states.

The ban on tobacco products includes all forms of tobacco, such as water pipes (hookahs), bidis, electronic cigarettes/smoking devices and smokeless tobacco products.

WKU says that nobody will be allowed to carry or use these items on a WKU campus once the ban begins, including students, faculty, contractors, volunteers and visitors.

WKU Media Relations Director Bob Skipper says the response WKU has received from students has, thus far, been “overwhelmingly positive.”

“One of our goals for rolling this out early is to give people time to adjust before it takes effect Jan. 1,” he said.

For the past several years, WKU campuses have included designated areas for those who smoke. However, Skipper said, those designated smoking areas will no longer exist once the ban takes effect.

WKU Owensboro won’t be the first local college to issue a smoking and tobacco ban, as Owensboro Community & Technical College, Brescia University and Kentucky Wesleyan College have all adopted no-smoking policies. Kentucky Wesleyan’s started in 2011, OCTC’s began in 2012 and Brescia’s was implemented in 2014.

“We had a little grumbling when we first went tobacco/vape free,” said OCTC Public Relations Director Bernie Hale. “We phased it out — first to smoking areas, then to none after about a year. Now that it is pretty standard, we usually only have an issue at the beginning of new semesters and getting students used to disposing of their ‘trash’ responsibly.”

Hale said many people don’t realize that cigarette butts aren’t biodegradable, that it takes about nine months for one to disintegrate. During that time, it can pollute the ground and lakes, she said.

“Also, we have had an issue with the vaping cartridges or fuses being tossed on the ground, so we have internal campaigns about keeping our campuses clean,” Hale said.

Skipper said he has no worries that the smoking and tobacco ban will negatively impact enrollment numbers at the various WKU campuses across the region.

“Tobacco/smoke-free campuses are the norm in Kentucky,” he said.

October 17, 2019 | 3:25 am

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