Montclair State May Become A ‘Tobacco-Free’ Campus

Montclair State University officials plan to use a $19,415 grant to try to make the MSU campus “100 percent smoke-and-tobacco-free,” administrators announced Monday.

The grant - part of the American Cancer Society and the CVS Health Foundation’s $3.6 million Tobacco-Free Generation Campus Initiative – will fund the launch of “Tobacco Free Red Hawks,” a program designed to engage and educate the campus community about the health and lifestyle issues related to tobacco and smoking.

The Tobacco Free Red Hawks program will include outreach events and smoking cessation groups aimed at the university’s 21,000 students with the ultimate goal of creating a “completely tobacco-free campus,” MSU administrators said.

The university is among the first 20 institutions nationwide to receive the funding, and is the only grantee in New Jersey, MSU administrators stated.

About 1,427 out of 4,700 higher education institutions in the United States are currently 100 percent smoke and tobacco-free, according to MSU officials.

“The university feels strongly about its role in creating a healthy living, learning and working environment for all students, faculty and staff, and this initiative is another way to act on that institutional commitment,” Montclair State University Coordinator of Health Promotion Marie Cascarano said.

The administration’s push for a “tobacco-free” campus isn’t the only recent MSU campaign to ban “undesirable” elements at the university; in May, university officials designated the college a “Stigma-Free” zone.

• See related article: Montclair State Is Now A 'Stigma-Free' Campus

SMOKING BANS: ARE THEY FAIR?

Smokers are finding themselves increasingly unwelcome in several public spaces throughout North Jersey. Other recent smoking bans have been established in Essex County, Caldwell, Montclair, Maplewood and Newark.

• See related article: Essex County Bans Smoking In Public Parks
• See related article: NJ Smoking Bans: Caldwell Joins Essex County Neighbors

Despite proponents’ claims that smoking bans enhance public health and safeguard the rights of nonsmokers, tobacco bans have come under fire from pro-choice groups, who say that the laws come at a price.

“When smoking is suddenly banned in public places, it doesn't stop a tobacco company from having a cup of coffee, or a meal, or a glass of beer… who it stops is the tired shopper, the guy or girl on a work-break, or the family that wants to take its smoking mother-in-law to dinner,” states NYC Citizens Lobbying Against Smoker Harassment (CLASH), an organization that filed a successful lawsuit in 2013 that helped to overturn a smoking ban in New York's state parks.

When Montclair passed its smoking ban in 2014, Councilman-at-Large Rich McMahon told a NorthJersey.com reporter that the ordinance is an example of "overregulation" in America.

"We all have to respect each other, but do we need ordinances or just common sense and decency?" questioned McMahon, a self-professed non-smoker who nonetheless opposed the ban.

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