Advocacy Project

I will be working with Eryn on the advocacy project and we will be advocating a smoke-free campus policy for Penn State. Campuses all over the country have been implementing no-smoking or tobacco-free policies, and there are already over 1,129 campuses that have implemented these sorts of policies. While it may seem like a really hard thing to do at Penn State, considering that our campus is so large and we have so many students, it is definitely not impossible. Both University of Maryland and University of Michigan (both large state schools like Penn State) have no-smoking policies. And come on, are we really going to let Michigan beat us out? A smoke-free campus policy would benefit non-smokers and smokers alike, including all students, staff, faculty, and visitors. Also, it could improve the overall caliber of the university and save money. Also, Pennsylvania law states that all workplaces are smoke free. Is Penn State’s campus not a workplace for faculty and students alike?

The purpose of our project will be to advocate that Penn State adopts a smoke-free campus policy. Smoking is already banned in buildings, but this policy would ban it on all campus grounds as well. We will try to get students, faculty, and especially administration to support the idea.

Our focus on audience will be toward students. There are over 40,000 of us that attend Penn State University Park. If we all rally behind an idea and offer support for a new policy, the administration is likely to listen. When students want to make a difference, we can. There’s power in number, and number is definitely something that we have.   However, we will also reach out to, as stated above, faculty, staff, and administration.

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