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MCC Daily Tribune Archive

Wednesday's Message on Thursday


Oops. Since yesterday's message inadvertently appeared among the regular News items, we decided to run it again.

Last week, while most of our faculty and students were away for April break, the Democrat and Chronicle published a story on the growing number of New York colleges that have gone smoke-free or tobacco-free.  In fact, New York is leading the nation in this effort.  The reason behind this effort is simple: health and wellness. 

Cigarette smoking is the leading cause of preventable death in the United States. It is also a cause of coronary heart disease, stroke and a host of other cancers and diseases. Smokeless tobacco, which contains 28 cancer-causing agents, and secondhand smoke both increase the risk of developing certain cancers as well.  Yet, despite these risks, data from the American Lung Association indicates about 20% of college students still smoke.

On June 12, 2012, the State University of New York Board of Trustees passed a resolution requiring 100 percent tobacco-free environments for all its campuses by January 2014. We have begun the work required to fully comply with this resolution and are excited about the prospect of providing a safer and healthier learning and working environment for all members of the college community.

MCC’s Tobacco-Free Committee has started to draft a policy and implementation plan. They are also reviewing best practices from other colleges and enlisting the help of external agencies and experts to try and make the transition to a tobacco-free campus move forward as smoothly as possible.  Once the draft policy has made the rounds of all shared governance groups for input, our goal is to present MCC’s tobacco-free policy to our Board of Trustees for approval.

I have asked Dolores Pasto-Ziobro, institutional compliance officer and internal auditor, to chair the Tobacco-Free Committee. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact her, at dpastoziobro@monroecc.edu or ext. 2158.

Thank you for your support of this important health and wellness initiative. Please feel free to share your comments on
the blog.

Anne M. Kress
President
04/11/2013