Proposed changes to an FGCU smoking regulation might bring the university one step closer to becoming smoke- and tobacco-free.
Regulation PR9.007, “Smoking and Consumption of Food in University Buildings,” does not prohibit the use of electronic cigarettes, but a proposed revision posted on the FGCU website Aug. 6 would prohibit the use of e-cigarettes and personal vaporizers in enclosed indoor workplaces owned or leased by the university.
Another proposed change would allow people to be removed from campus if they do not comply with the regulation. As the regulation is now, non-students and non-employees who do not comply with the regulation can be fined up to $100 for a first violation and $500 for subsequent violations, according to section 386.208 of the Florida Statutes.
In an email to students sent earlier this year, FGCU President Wilson Bradshaw announced his goal to make FGCU a smoke- and tobacco-free campus by summer 2016.
“As you are aware,” Bradshaw wrote, “many other public institutions in Florida and across the nation have moved in this direction.”
On their respective university websites, the University of Florida, Florida State University, Florida International University, University of Central Florida, Florida Atlantic University, and Florida Polytechnic University are all listed as being tobacco-free campuses. Other public universities in the state of Florida have limits on where people can smoke or use tobacco products on campus property.
In the same email, Bradshaw also announced the creation of a Smoke/Tobacco-Free Campus Implementing Committee. The purpose of the committee is to help phase out smoking on campus and provide educational programs to help interested students quit smoking.
Anyone who would like to comment on the proposed regulation must do so in writing to the Office of the General Counsel at [email protected] by 5 p.m. Aug. 24. If the changes are made to the policy, smokers of e-cigarettes and personal vaporizers will only be able to use them in designated smoking areas.