History and Background

Macalester College has been addressing policy on tobacco use on campus since the passage of the Minnesota Clean Air act in 1975. Macalester adopted the first significant policy change in 1994, prohibiting smoking in designated buildings. In 2008, the smoke-free policy was expanded to include the residence halls.

A Tobacco Use on Campus Task Force was created Spring 2010 to review the policy of tobacco use on the Macalester campus and make recommendations to the Vice President of Student Affairs on policy and program development related to tobacco use on campus. The Task Force was made up of faculty, staff, students – smokers, non-smokers, former smokers. [1]

The Task Force engaged the entire Macalester community, considering a variety of perspectives – personal health, environmental health, and social justice. In the end, the Task Force elected to create a community commitment to behavioral change and the long-term health of the institution and its members. The Task Force recommended that Macalester College become a fully tobacco-free campus by September 2013, beginning Fall 2010 with restricting smoking on campus within 25 feet of windows, doors and ventilation systems. Macalester’s senior staff approved the 25 foot restriction and directed the Task Force to review a tobacco-free campus policy at a later date.

Nationally and locally, policies as well as personal habits around smoking continued to change. The American College Health Association in a November 2011 Position Statement recommended that colleges and universities adopt policies that support a 100% indoor and outdoor campus-wide tobacco-free environment. The FDA has recommended the electronic cigarettes be included as part of the tobacco-free environment. Tobacco use by Macalester students has been steadily dropping; 30 day prevalence dropped from 29% in 2008 to 10% in 2013 and daily use has been reduced from 5% in 2008 to 1% in 2013. [2] The number of universities adopting tobacco-free policies is continuing to increase. 50 Minnesota campuses already have tobacco-free policies in place. Nationwide, 975 are tobacco-free and more than 1,477 are smoke free as of October 1, 2014.

These factors prompted Macalester senior staff to revisit the 2010 recommendation that the campus become tobacco free and approved the recommendation in Spring 2014. A new Task Force was created to implement the policy, again involving students, staff and faculty. [3]

[1] Mike Hall, Stephen Murray, Grace Goetzke, Dustin Studelska, Mary Gustafson, Kate Walker, Tom Welna, Patrick Stephan, Kendrick Brown, Denise Ward, Lisa Broek

[2] Macalester data from National College Health Survey, Spring 2013

[3] Tom Welna, Kendrick Brown, Kelly Fang, Jim Hoppe, Lisa Broek, Suzanne Hansen, Nathan Lief, David Warch, Denise Ward, Sarah Birkholz, Kate Hehre, Carolyn Duncombe