Since 2015 UTRGV has been a tobacco free campus due to the wellness and with a primarily positive reception, Wellness Coordinator for the Office of Human resources, Carla Renee Lopez says exactly why this policy to be enacted.
“For UTRGV we want to promote the health and wellbeing of the community that includes of course the students, faculty, and staff. Then also visitors, we want to take care of them as well. Basically, because we are committed to providing a healthy and educational environment
As of today, all 15 of UT institutions have adopted this tobacco Cessation policy. Lopez says that policy awareness is now a strong mission for Employee Wellness.
“We have ongoing efforts raising policy awareness and one of them includes university events. In those events we distribute cards with the reporting tool on it, and we do that because we want to promote awareness from the university community.”
Employee Wellness says that warnings will first be given to students violating the policy before a fine. However, students at UTRGV such as Mechanical Engineering Junior Oscar Lomeli, says that the penalties should go beyond a monetary fine.
“I know there’s allot of people who do, they have their reasons. But if they want to smoke they need to take into consideration everybody else who is on campus. The officers need to be smart about it too, warnings, hold, citation, and it continues to get higher if they keep doing it.”
For more information and access to resources provided by Employee Wellness, visit utrgv.edu/KeepUTRGVTobaccoFree
Story by Jerry Galindo
