The Berea College General Faculty Assembly recently voted in favor of a new policy prohibiting use of tobacco and electronic smoking devices on campus. The new policy, scheduled to take effect in July 2019, designates all College property free of tobacco smoking and vaping products.
More than a year ago, the College’s Administrative Committee appointed a group comprised of tobacco and non-tobacco product users to draft a policy for making Berea’s campus free from tobacco and related products, as is the case for almost all other Kentucky college and university campuses. Once the policy was developed, students, staff and faculty reviewed and adopted it.
In recent years, tobacco products were only permitted in designated smoking areas at the gazebos around Berea’s campus and selected other locations. With the coming change to a smoke-free campus, the College’s health and wellness program is offering cessation programs using the Cooper Clayton method to assist smokers in kicking their habit. The gazebos will remain temporarily as locations for (healthier) socializing while the College develops other places where students can casually congregate—picnic tables, benches, swing sets—to socialize and blow off steam instead of smoke.
For more information, contact Jill Gurtatowski, director of Berea College’s health and wellness program at gurtatowskij@berea.edu or by phone at 859-985-3968.