This article was originally published in The Examiner on Jan. 19, 2017.
By Eleanor Skelton
Staff Writer
The Stephen F. Austin University campus is now smoke-free, thanks to a student and faculty-led joint resolution led by Beaumont native Jessica Taylor, current Stephen F. Austin Student Government Association president.
The tobacco and vape policy, which bans vaping and chewing tobacco as well as smoking, went into effect Aug. 22, 2016 during the beginning of Taylor’s presidency, The Pine Log, Stephen F. Austin’s student newspaper, reported.
Taylor told The Pine Log that she pushed for the new resolution because “the [previous] 20-foot rule [you must be at least 20 feet away from a building to use tobacco] was not being followed around dorms, the student center and other areas around campus. The fact is that smoke affects the health of everyone in the vicinity, not just the individu- al who is smoking. Ultimately, we wanted to make SFA a healthier place.”
Anyone on campus now is not allowed to use these products on “any university property,” Taylor said, including sidewalks bordering campus and inside vehicles parked on campus.
The resolution states that the new policy affects “property that is owned, leased, occupied, or controlled by Stephen F. Austin State University,” meaning “all buildings, structures, vehicles, sidewalks, parking lots, walkways and attached parking structures owned or controlled by the university.”
“If smoke is allowed on campus, a faculty member is not able to do research on that topic,” Taylor explained in an interview with The Examiner. Now SFA is eligible to receive funds from the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas, according to the policy.
The new resolution also “prohibits the use, sale or free sampling of tobacco or vape products on all university property,” Taylor said in an e-mail.
Banned products include but are not limited to cigarettes, cigars, pipes, smokeless tobacco, e-cigarettes, vaporizers, vape pens, hookahs, blunts, pipes, snuff and any other tobacco or vape-related product, she said.
“All members of the university community are responsible for adherence to the tobacco-free campus policy,” Taylor wrote. “University community members are empowered to respectfully inform others about the policy.”
Taylor is a senior English major with a minor in Sociology, and SFA student government association president for the 2016-2017 academic year. Taylor attended high school in Beaumont, she said, and graduated from Central Medical Magnet High School as part of the Medical Magnet program in 2013.
Throughout the fall semester, Taylor said she informally polled students. Most of the
responses she received were “polar opposites — either they’re completely for it and happy with our campus being healthier or completely on the other side, like, why would we change if it’s always been this way.”
Stephen F. Austin University provided free Quit Kits with information and tools, available to students, faculty and staff, at several locations on campus during the transition, The Pine Log reported.
Taylor said that she feels that campus safety and health will improve overall, and encourages her fellow students to support the change.
“New things are a little harder to start, you can make the legislation for it, but it’s ultimately up to the students and faculty to lead the initiative and report it if they see anything that violates the tobacco free rule,” she said.
Taylor plans to attend graduate school, possibly at Stephen F. Austin, after her graduation in May, but does not plan to run for Student Government Association presidency again next year, but she said she has applied for the student affairs graduate program because she wants to continue to help university students.
“She started at Central High School doing these things and she went on,” her mother, Rosalan Taylor, said. “She’s just a multitasker, she wears so many hats.”
She said she is proud of her daughter’s achievements, noting that Jessica was an honors student in high school.
A similar smoke-free policy at Lamar University went into effect June 1, 2012, Lamar public relations specialist Brian Sattler said in a release, along with all the other institutions in the Texas State University System.
Eleanor Skelton 