West Virginia Wesleyan College will join the short ranks of West Virginia institutions of higher education that identify as a tobacco-free campus.  The WVWC Tobacco-Free Policy, which outlines a graduated timeline for the program, will ensure that the entire Buckhannon campus, including administrative buildings, residence halls, grounds, parking lots, on-campus sidewalks, streets, driveways, stadiums, recreational spaces, practice facilities, and all Wesleyan-owned or –leased vehicles, will be devoid of smoking tobacco, nicotine, vapor pens, and smokeless tobacco in January 2017.

 

The policy, proposed by Kayla Hinkley, MBA ’16 and Clayton Porter, a senior nursing major from Morgantown, WV, was adopted and put into motion this summer.  As students begin moving on to campus, they may notice a few changes.

 

This week, signs and posters will be placed around campus notifying the campus community and its visitors about the new tobacco-free zones.  Receptacles are being removed from current areas and will now only be located where tobacco use is allowed.   Those areas include the gravel parking lot beside Middleton Hall, an area near the Riverwalk, Doney Hall parking lot, and the area by the recently-installed fire pit.  These initiatives are made possible by a $4,000 Tobacco Control and Prevention College Grant from the American Lung Association.

 

Wesleyan has joined the ranks of only four other West Virginia schools that are tobacco-free.  The four permissible areas will remain in effect throughout the fall semester until the College becomes fully tobacco-free in January.  Smoking cessation classes will be offered to those who would like to quit using tobacco.

 

For more information on the Tobacco-Free Policy, please contact Jessica Vincent, advisor of SWAT and head of cessation options, at Vincent_j@wvwc.edu.

 

Editor's Note: Cover photo courtesy of Carole Kinard