2008 Woodie Awards
Students protest selling tobacco on campus
By Jessica Moore
Rocket Contributor
Issue date: 4/18/08 Section: News
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SGA President Larry Brink said that he has met with the group in the past week and worked on the wording of the petition with them.
SGA Vice President of Academic Affairs Meghan Oefinger said that approximately 1,200 signatures would be needed for the petition to be brought to the SGA senate for a vote.
Because SGA owns the bookstore, the senators' votes would decide whether the sale of tobacco products would cease, Oefinger said.
Oefinger said that the group of exercise science majors is forming the petition for a wellness fair project.
The wellness fair will take place from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the Aebersold Recreation Center on April 23.
It will consist of a series of booths with information about issues such as tobacco, alcohol and skin cancer.
Another group of SRU students, Pennsylvania Students Working Against Tobacco, or PA-SWAT, expressed interest in forming a petition, Oefinger said.
"PA-SWAT is a statewide organization which has been active at SRU since 2002," said Catherine Massey, the faculty adviser for PA-SWAT and associate professor of psychology.
Massey said that approximately 35 universities across Pennsylvania are involved in PA-SWAT as well.
Oefinger said that PA-SWAT came to the SGA at the beginning of this semester and asked them to check their sales to see if it was worth the shelf space to continue selling tobacco products.
The bookstore found that there was enough revenue to continue selling the products.
Oefinger estimated that the percent of sales from tobacco products was in the single digits.
Oefinger also said that PA-SWAT has not pushed the issue any further.
"The mission of the organization is to promote a healthy lifestyle on campus, and selling tobacco products at the bookstore is getting in the way of that," said Beth Choike, a 21-year-old communication major and the PA-SWAT campaign coordinator.
Viewing Comments 1 - 3 of 3
Amber Wilhelm
posted 4/18/08 @ 12:13 PM EST
What a silly notion that someone would see tobacco products in the book store and be incouraged to smoke. If you smoke, you smoke...if you don't, you don't. (Continued…)
Anthony Maiocco
posted 4/21/08 @ 6:52 PM EST
I recently quit smoking because of a recent brain aneurism. I smoke and I die. Regardless, I think this is ridiculous. The cigarettes sold by the bookstore are already expensive and banning them isn't going to stop people from quitting. (Continued…)
Catherine Massey
posted 4/25/08 @ 9:38 AM EST
Banning tobacco sales on campus may not help people quit, but selling tobacco on our campus is promoting this deadly addiction and smoking behavior. Given that Slippery Rock is only one of four state system universities that still sells tobacco on campus we need to step up and get with the times. (Continued…)
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