San Diego Community College District’s colleges have been given an A+ by for their policies that prohibit smoking and tobacco use on their campuses.
The top grade to San Diego City College, San Diego Mesa College and San Diego Miramar College was awarded by the California Youth Advocacy Network, which conducts an annual survey of smoke-free policies at California’s K-12 schools, colleges and universities.
While not graded in the report card, San Diego College of Continuing Education has an identical smoke-free policy as its sister colleges.
The annual College and University Smoke and Tobacco-Free Policy Report Card noted that 66% of California’s community colleges had smoke-free policies that earned them an A+. The University of California and California State University have system wide smoke and tobacco-free policies.
The San Diego Community College District Governing Board approved a smoke and tobacco-free policy in 2013 that prohibits the use of tobacco products on all district properties and vehicles.
Mesa College spearheaded the district’s efforts to establish a smoke-free policy. The college’s current President Ashanti Hands, reflected on the accomplishment:
“I am most impressed by the level of work that has been done to transform our campus culture, with regard to smoke and tobacco-free behavior and environments, over the past 15 years,” said President Hands. “This shift was something we believed in and knew was needed for the health and wellness of our community.”
The California Youth Advocacy Network developed the report card to change the tobacco use culture in California’s schools, colleges and universities by providing knowledge and tools to create change for healthier communities. It noted that in 2008, 5% of California college and university campuses had a 100% smoke-free policy. This year, the total is up to 73%.
Despite those efforts, cigarette smoking among college students increased from 4.1% in 2020 to 5.9% in 2021. About 20% of students surveyed reporting vaping in the last 30 days.
The youth advocacy network said smoke and tobacco-free policies decrease exposure to secondhand smoke, decrease the use of tobacco products, eliminate tobacco product waste on campuses, and reduces the exposure of students to new and emerging tobacco and nicotine products.
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