Students, faculty and staff returning to North Central Texas College in January will no longer be allowed to use tobacco products on campus.
The Flower Mound campus, which opened about a year ago, was opened as a tobacco-free campus from the start.
Now the other four campuses — Corinth, Gainesville, Bowie and Graham — will also be tobacco-free.
The new policy prohibits lighted or unlighted cigarettes, cigars, pipes, bidis, clove cigarettes and other smoking products, as well as spit tobacco products — dip, chew, snuff and snus — according to the policy posted at www.nctc.edu/TobaccoFree.
The policy goes into effect Jan. 1.
Tobacco use is prohibited on NCTC property and in buildings owned, rented and leased by the college.
Parking lots also will be tobacco-free, but people will be allowed to smoke inside their cars on school property, said Roy Culberson, dean of the Corinth and Flower Mound campuses.
The college began putting up signs in the spring and summer to make everyone aware in advance that the change would be coming, he said.
And although the decision was made in the spring, the college decided not to enforce it in the fall to give students, faculty and staff who use tobacco products more time to get ready for the transition.
“We don’t have the type of program out there trying to catch someone smoking,” Culberson said.
The specific means of enforcement are not yet outlined in the policy.
Americans Nonsmokers’ Rights Foundation reports that as of January, there will be more than 600 college campuses that are 100 percent smoke-free.
“I think it will give us an opportunity to have a healthier campus,” Culberson said.
By Rachel Mehlhaff
dentonrc.com
