Southeast goes tobacco-free

As the campus of Southeast Missouri State University begins to fill up and come back to life for the upcoming semester, a new policy is also going into place. The whole campus of Southeast will now be tobacco-free.

“We asked the entire campus community to help us make others aware,” Vice President for Finance and Administration Kathy Mangels said. “So, when you see someone who is smoking on campus we consider it kind of all of our responsibility to make that person aware that we have a new policy that is smoke-free and tobacco-free.”

The signs and receptacles from the previously designated smoking areas have been removed and the benches have remained.

If a student is seen using tobacco products on multiple occasions, people can refer the student to Student Conduct, according to Mangels. If a staff member or visitor is seen using tobacco products, people can tell Human Resources, Mangels said.

Someone using tobacco on campus will not being breaking any laws, only campus policy.

“It’s not a crime, which is why DPS would not be involved,” Mangels said.

According to Mangels, if someone is reported to HR or Student Conduct, it would follow any “normal report of a violation of a policy.”

“Our goal here is to change habits,” Mangels said. “So first and foremost, we are going to work with folks to try and change their habits and their use.”

If a student has continued violations it will result in consequences like other broken policies in the Student Conduct Code.

“There is not anything specific to smoking, again this is part of the Student Code of Conduct and the university’s policies and procedures, so at the same time it will be processed as if you violated any other part of the policy or procedures,” Mangels said.

This policy change was announced during the spring semester. Signs were put in place around campus and secession classes were offered.

“We do want to assist individuals that are in transition, so we started that already last school year and we will continue to try to assist with that,” Mangels said.

The conversation about this policy started about three years ago, according to Mangels, and was brought back up again by Southeast President Carlos Vargas. Student Government feedback and survey data were also a part of the decision to pursue this new policy.

“We are one of the last four-year campuses in the state of Missouri to go smoke and tobacco-free,” Mangels said.