Because Hartwick College is committed to providing a safe and healthy working and learning environment for the students, faculty, and staff on its campus, it hereby adopts the following tobacco-, vape- and smoke-free policy. This policy will be effective January 1, 2022.

The Tobacco-, Vape- and Smoke-Free policy applies to all Hartwick College facilities, property, and vehicles, owned or leased, regardless of location. Tobacco use shall not be permitted in any enclosed place, including, but not limited to, all offices, classrooms, hallways, waiting rooms, restrooms, meeting rooms, community areas, performance venues and private residential space within Hartwick College housing. Tobacco use and smoking shall also be prohibited outdoors on all Hartwick College campus property, including but not limited to parking lots, paths, fields, sports/recreational areas, and stadiums, as well as in all personal vehicles while on campus. This policy applies to all students, faculty, staff, and other persons on campus, regardless of the purpose for their visit.

A. “Electronic Smoking Device” means any product containing or delivering nicotine or any other substance intended for human consumption that can be used by a person in any manner for the purpose of inhaling vapor or aerosol from the product. The term includes any such device, whether manufactured, distributed, marketed, or sold as an e-cigarette, e-cigar, e-pipe, e-hookah, or vape pen, or under any other product name or descriptor.

B. “Hookah” means a water pipe and any associated products and devices which are used to
produce fumes, smoke, and/or vapor from the burning of material including, but not limited to, tobacco, shisha, or other plant matter.

C. “Smoking” means inhaling, exhaling, burning, or carrying any lighted or heated cigar,
cigarette, pipe, hookah, or any other lighted or heated tobacco or plant product intended for inhalation, including marijuana, whether natural or synthetic, in any manner or in any form. “Smoking” also includes the use of an electronic smoking device which creates an aerosol or vapor, in any manner or in any form, or the use of any oral smoking device for the purpose of circumventing the prohibition of smoking in this Article.

D. Tobacco: includes but is not limited to; cigarettes, cigars, pipes, hookahs, smokeless tobacco” (including but not limited to snuff, dipping tobaccos, pouches, dissolvable tobaccos, tobacco waters, and pastes).

In further recognition of the incompatibility of Hartwick College’s educational mission and the promotion of tobacco products:

No tobacco-related advertising or sponsorship shall be permitted on Hartwick College property at Hartwick College sponsored events, or in publications produced by Hartwick College, with the exception of advertising in a newspaper or magazine that is not produced by Hartwick College and which is lawfully sold, bought, or distributed on Hartwick College property. For the purposes of this policy, “tobacco related” applies to the use of a tobacco brand or corporate name, trademark, logo, symbol, or motto, selling message, recognizable pattern or colors, or any other indicia of product identical to or similar to, or identifiable with, those used for any brand of tobacco products or company which manufactures tobacco products, or smoking products.

Cigarettes, including ESD’s, cigars, pipes, including hookah pipes, shall not be sold or
distributed as samples on university grounds, either in vending machines, the student union, or any area on campus.

Hartwick College understands the addictive nature of smoking and the reality that breaking the habit is extremely difficult for many people. The college will make every effort to assist and encourage those who wish to stop smoking. Below please find a selection of tobacco cessation websites:

New York State Smoker’s Quitline provides information and support for smoking cessation. Speak with a certified smoking cessation counselor by calling: (866) NY-QUITS or (866) 697-8487. Visit their website here.

National tobacco free website – The US Health and Human Service One stop tobacco cessation
related website can be found here.

National Quit Smoking website for teens – texting app and other tools tailored to teens can be found here.

Become An Ex – A website devoted to helping people quit by developing a strong plan and
being part of a community can be found here.

National Networks for Tobacco Control and Prevention – Learn about all different forms of
tobacco and how to quit please click here.

American Cancer Society – Information online or by phone and free tobacco cessation materials can be found here.

American Lung Association – Help to quit smoking, materials, and advocacy can be found here.

New York State Tobacco Control Networks and Resources

New York State Tobacco Free Community Partners/Coalitions – All Counties in NYS are
covered to some extent by state-funded partnerships that work to de-normalize tobacco use and promote tobacco free environments. For more information, please click here.

Health Systems for a Tobacco-Free New York – Funded to support healthcare organizations to
better address tobacco dependence. The Centers provide technical assistance and training.

CDPHP Programs
CDPHP offers a variety of smoking cessation programs that can be found via the following by clicking here.

Members of the Hartwick College community who refuse to comply with this policy may be
subject to corrective action through the applicable process.

● Faculty and staff members alleged to be in violation of the policy are subject to corrective action as administered by the Office of Human Resources.
● Students alleged to be violating the policy are subject to corrective action through the
appropriate student conduct process as administered by the Student Conduct Office.
● Visitors, including venders, contractors and any service providers, will be subject to
whatever remedies are available to the College and administered by the Campus Safety Department or other appropriate office.

The 2006 U.S. Surgeon General’s Report, The Health Consequences of Involuntary Exposure to
Tobacco Smoke, has concluded that (1) secondhand smoke exposure causes disease and premature death in children and adults who do not smoke; (2) children exposed to secondhand smoke are at an increased risk for sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), acute respiratory problems, ear infections, and asthma attacks, and that smoking by parents causes respiratory symptoms and slows lung growth in their children; (3) exposure of adults to secondhand smoke has immediate adverse effects on the cardiovascular system and causes coronary heart disease and lung cancer; (4) there is no risk-free level of exposure to secondhand smoke; (5) establishing smoke free workplaces is the only effective way to ensure that secondhand smoke exposure does not occur in the workplace, because ventilation and other air cleaning technologies cannot completely control for exposure of nonsmokers to secondhand smoke; and (6) evidence from peer-reviewed studies shows that smoke free policies and laws do not have an adverse economic impact on the hospitality industry. (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The Health Consequences of Involuntary Exposure to Tobacco Smoke: A Report of the Surgeon General. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Office on Smoking and Health, 2006.) According to the 2010 U.S. Surgeon General’s Report, How Tobacco Smoke Causes Disease, even occasional exposure to secondhand smoke is harmful and low levels of exposure to secondhand tobacco smoke lead to a rapid and sharp increase in dysfunction and inflammation of the lining of the blood vessels, which are implicated in heart attacks and stroke. (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. How Tobacco Smoke Causes Disease: The Biology and Behavioral Basis for Smoking-Attributable Disease: A Report of the Surgeon General. Atlanta, GA: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Office on Smoking and Health, 2010.) According to the 2014 U.S. Surgeon General’s Report, The Health Consequences of Smoking—50 Years of Progress, secondhand smoke exposure causes stroke in nonsmokers. The report also found that since the 1964 Surgeon General’s Report on Smoking and Health, 2.5 million nonsmokers have died from diseases caused by tobacco smoke. (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The Health Consequences of Smoking—50 Years of Progress. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Office on Smoking and Health, 2014.)

Numerous studies have found that tobacco smoke is a major contributor to indoor air pollution, and that breathing secondhand smoke (also known as environmental tobacco smoke) is a cause of disease in healthy nonsmokers, including heart disease, stroke, respiratory disease, and lung cancer. The National Cancer Institute determined in 1999 that secondhand smoke is responsible for the early deaths of approximately 53,000 Americans annually. (National Cancer Institute (NCI). Health effects of exposure to environmental tobacco smoke: the report of the California Environmental Protection Agency. Smoking and Tobacco Control. Bethesda, MD: National Institutes of Health, National Cancer Institute (NCI), August 1999.)

Based on a finding by the California Environmental Protection Agency in 2005, the California Air Resources Board has determined that secondhand smoke is a toxic air contaminant, finding that exposure to secondhand smoke has serious health effects, including low birth-weight babies; sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS); increased respiratory infections in children; asthma in children and adults; lung cancer, sinus cancer, and breast cancer in younger, premenopausal women; heart disease; and death. (California Air Resources Board (ARB). The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has determined that the risk of acute myocardial infarction and coronary heart disease associated with exposure to tobacco smoke is non-linear at low doses, increasing rapidly with relatively small doses such as those received from secondhand smoke or actively smoking one or two cigarettes a day, and has warned that all patients at increased risk of coronary heart disease or with known coronary artery disease should avoid all indoor environments that permit smoking. (Pechacek, Terry F.; Babb, Stephen, “Commentary: How acute and reversible are the cardiovascular risks of secondhand smoke?” British Medical Journal 328: 980-983, April 24, 2004.)

Electronic smoking devices, commonly referred to as electronic cigarettes, or “e cigarettes,” closely resemble and purposefully mimic the act of smoking by having users inhale vaporized liquid that typically contains nicotine, heated through an electronic ignition system. ESD emissions are made up of a high concentration of ultrafine particles, and the particle concentration is higher than in conventional tobacco cigarette smoke. (Fuoco, F.C.; Buonanno, G.; Stabile, L.; Vigo, P., “Influential parameters on particle concentration and size distribution in the mainstream of e-cigarettes,” Environmental Pollution 184: 523-529, January 2014.) The January 2018 National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine publication states that there is conclusive evidence that in addition to nicotine, most ESDs contain and emit numerous potentially toxic substances and increase airborne concentrations of particulate matter and nicotine in indoor environments. Studies show that people exposed to ESD aerosol absorb nicotine (measured as cotinine) at levels comparable to passive smokers. Many of the elements identified in the aerosol are known to cause respiratory distress and disease. ESD exposure damages lung tissues. Human lung cells that are exposed to ESD aerosol and flavorings — especially cinnamon — show increased oxidative stress and inflammatory responses. (Lerner CA, Sundar IK, Yao H, Gerloff J, Ossip DJ, McIntosh S, et al. “Vapors Produced by Electronic Cigarettes and E-Juices with Flavorings Induce Toxicity, Oxidative Stress, and Inflammatory Response in Lung Epithelial Cells and in Mouse Lung,” PLoS ONE 10(2): e0116732, February 6, 2015.) Their use in workplaces and public places where smoking of traditional tobacco products is prohibited creates concern and confusion and leads to difficulties in enforcing the smoking prohibitions. The World Health Organization (WHO), the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), and the American Industrial Hygiene Association (AIHA) recommend that ESDs not be used in smoke free environments, in order to minimize the risk to bystanders of breathing in the aerosol emitted by the devices and to avoid undermining the enforcement of smoke free laws. (World Health Organization (WHO), “Electronic nicotine delivery systems,” World Health Organization (WHO), 2014.)

According to the American Nonsmokers’ Rights Foundation, more than 2,000 college and
university sites in the United States have adopted 100% smoke-free, or even tobacco-free (including noncombustible tobacco) policies, and this number is rising steadily. The American College Health Association “encourages colleges and universities to be diligent in their efforts to achieve a 100% indoor and outdoor campus-wide tobacco-free environment.” The United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) created the Tobacco-Free College Campus Initiative (TFCCI), later administered by the American Cancer Society, in partnership with CVS Health, as the Tobacco-Free Generation Campus Initiative (TFGCI), to promote and support the adoption and implementation of tobacco-free policies at universities, colleges, and other institutions of higher learning across the United States.

Secondhand smoke from combusted marijuana contains fine particulate matter that can be breathed deeply into the lungs, which can cause lung irritation and asthma attacks, thus making respiratory infections more likely. Exposure to fine particulate matter can exacerbate health problems especially for people with respiratory conditions like asthma, bronchitis, or COPD. (“Air and Health: Particulate Matter.” National Environmental Public Health Tracking Network, U. S. Environmental Protection Agency; Brook, R.D., Rajagopalan, S., Pope, C.A., 3rd, Brook, J.R., Bhatnagar, A., Diez-Roux, A.V., Holguin, F., Hong, Y., Luepker, R.V., Mittleman, M.A., Peters, A., Siscovick, D., Smith, S.C., Jr., Whitsel, L., and Kaufman, J.D. Particulate matter air pollution and cardiovascular disease: An update to the scientific statement from the American Heart Association. Circulation. 2010; 121: 2331-78.) Secondhand smoke from marijuana also has many of the same chemicals as smoke from tobacco, including those linked to lung cancer. (“Evidence on the Carcinogenicity of Marijuana Smoke.” Reproductive and Cancer Hazard Assessment Branch, Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment, California Environmental Protection Agency. August 2009; Moir, D., Rickert, W.S., Levasseur, G., Larose, Y., Maertens, R., White, P., and Desjardins, S. A comparison of mainstream and sidestream marijuana and tobacco cigarette smoke produced under two machine smoking conditions. Chemical Research in Toxicology. 2008. 21: 494-502.) More research is needed, but the current body of science shows that both tobacco and marijuana smoke may have similar harmful cardiovascular effects. (Springer, M.L.; Glantz, S.A.” Marijuana Use and Heart Disease: Potential Effects of Public Exposure to Smoke,” University of California at San Francisco. April 13, 2015; Wang, X., Derakhshandeh, R., Liu, J., Narayan, S., Nabavizadeh, P., Le, S., Danforth,
O.M., Pinnamaneni, K., Rodriguez, H.J., Luu, E., Sievers, R.E., Schick, S.F., Glantz, S.A., and Springer, M.L. One minute of marijuana secondhand smoke exposure substantially impairs vascular endothelial function. Journal of the American Heart Association. 2016; 5: e003858.)
Thus, In the interest of public health, the use of combustible or aerosolized marijuana should be prohibited wherever tobacco smoking is prohibited.
The smoking of tobacco, hookahs, or marijuana and the use of ESDs are forms of air pollution and constitute both a danger to health and a material public nuisance.
Accordingly, Hartwick College finds and declares that the purposes of this policy are (1) to protect the public health and welfare by prohibiting smoking, including the use of ESDs, on the Hartwick College campus; (2) to guarantee the right of nonsmokers to breathe smoke free air, while recognizing that the need to breathe smoke-free air shall have priority over the desire to smoke; and (3) to encourage a healthier, more productive living/learning environment for all members of our campus community.

References:

American Nonsmokers’ Rights Foundation. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://no-smoke.org/modelpolicy-smokefree-college-university/

Website information:

Hartwick College recognizes that smoking, breaking second hand smoke, or using tobacco
products is a significant health, safety, and environmental hazard for the entire Hartwick
community. We are committed to promoting healthy living and working environment for
administration, faculty, staff, students, and all visitors to campus.

As a result, all areas of the College campus, all campus properties, and all campus vehicles are designated as tobacco-, vape- and smoke-free.

For the purpose of this policy, tobacco use is defined as using any type of tobacco product including, but not limited to, cigarettes (commercial, handmade, or electronic), cigars, cigarillos, pipes, hookahs, vape pens, oral tobacco (spit and spitless, smokeless, chew, snuff), or any other similar smoking material or delivery device including anything that simulates smoking.

The Tobacco-, Vape- and Smoke-Free Policy strictly prohibits:
1. The smoking or use of any other tobacco product in all College campus buildings, on the
College grounds, and on properties owned, leased, or rented by the College.
2. The smoking and the use of any tobacco product in all College owned, leased, or rented
vehicles.
3. The sale of tobacco products on campus.
4. The free distribution of tobacco products on campus.
5. Tobacco advertisements in College-produced (run) publications.

Organizers and attendees at events, such as conferences, meetings, public lectures, social and sporting events, using College facilities, will be required to abide by the College’s Tobacco-, Vape-, and Smoke-Free Policy. Organizers of such events are responsible for communicating and enforcing this policy.

The success of the Tobacco-, Vape- and Smoke-Free Policy depends upon the courtesy, respect, thoughtfulness, consideration and cooperation of all smoking and non-smoking members of the Hartwick College community. All members of the community are responsible for implementation and enforcement of this policy. All members of the community are encouraged to advise other employees, students, and visitors about the policy, suggest to anyone smoking that they not smoke on the campus or on college-owned properties, and, when appropriate, direct smokers off the campus. Individuals violating this policy will be subject to appropriate disciplinary action and should be reported to an appropriate authority (supervisor, manager, Campus Safety, Human Resources, or Student Experience administration).

Published Nov. 19, 2021