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August 1, 2013

 

To the University Community,

The new school year is a time of optimism and renewal. This year our hopes for the coming semester include something we can all be thankful for—a safer and healthier campus.

Starting today, August 1, the Coral Gables campus will be 100 percent smoke free. Two years ago we launched our Smoke-Free Campus Initiative, which designated certain areas on campus where smoking was permitted. Now we’re implementing the final step in that process. We’re going completely smoke free for you: our students, employees, visitors, and friends.

This commitment to a healthy living and working environment is the result of a student-led initiative that was backed by our undergraduate Student Government, the Graduate Student Association, and Student Bar Association. A recent survey of more than 2,000 of our students found 63 percent agree or strongly agree on having a totally smoke-free campus. We can all contribute to the success of the initiative by letting others know about the new policy and pitching in to help them comply.

You have probably seen the “Breathe Freely” signs that are around campus—something we want everyone to achieve. We offer the UM family a variety of resources to help quit smoking, including the award-winning BeSmokeFree program sponsored by our Office of Community Health Affairs Area Health Education Center’s (AHEC) state-funded Tobacco Cessation Program, which also provides support for other elements of this undertaking. For more information, go to www.miami.edu/smokefree.

We can all “Breathe Freely” and more easily by being smoke free.