Sherman College was recently approved for a $1,000 grant from the Spartanburg County Coalition for Tobacco Free Living. The Coalition’s goal is to assist Spartanburg Colleges with the promotion and marketing of “Tobacco Free Living” exercises and events.

Grant monies will allow Sherman College to purchase and distribute smoking cessation promotional materials including information about the health effects of smoking, stages of change, how to make a quit plan, tips to help smokers quit and information about smokers’ withdrawal. The college will create an on-campus support system prior to and after the National Great American Smokeout on November 16.

The Office of Student Affairs, under the direction of Dean LaShanda Hutto, M.S.W., will kick off Sherman College’s tobacco awareness campaign on October 19 at Bagelfest. “Be Smoke Free ~ Like Me!” stickers will be handed out, and flyers will be posted throughout the campus noting the dangers of smoking and of secondhand smoke. Smokers wishing to quit can sign up in the Student Affairs Office and receive printed materials made available through the grant. Support group dates and times will then be formulated based on interest and available space.

Daily announcements and a list of those trying to stop smoking will be posted (per their desire/permission) on the television monitors beginning daily November 9 through November 16, 2006, which is the 30th Anniversary of the Great American Smokeout. That day, snacks will be made available to the campus population in the cafeteria at the morning break, as will another round of “Be Smoke Free ~ Like Me!” stickers.

In its application, the college stated that it is committed to providing a healthy, comfortable, and productive environment for its students, faculty and staff of its campus. In addition, it stated the following:

The college recognizes the harmful effects of involuntary contact with smoke. It also recognizes the need to preserve the reasonable individual rights of smokers as long as doing so does not interfere with the right of non-smokers to have a smoke-free environment. Furthermore, Sherman College is prepared, with the assistance of this grant and the Spartanburg Taskforce on Tobacco, to plan and implement activities to promote quitting among those students and employees who do smoke, in an effort to assist and encourage them.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report 2002, approximately 23 percent of American adults and 28 percent of teens smoke. More than 70 percent want to quit, but few succeed without help. Tobacco use treatment doubles quitting success rates.