The fight to keep cigarette smoke and vape clouds off Nevada’s college campuses has been decades in the making, but Nevada State University’s recently enacted tobacco-free policy means 8,400 more students will see added pressure to curb or quit the habit this fall. 

It joins nearly 2,500 other campuses that have adopted similar policies nationwide, including UNR in 2015 and UNLV in 2022. With nicotine use among young adults rising, local public health advocates are still working to encourage similar bans at other Nevada institutions like the College of Southern Nevada.

The issue is of particular concern for college students, who tend to use easier-to-conceal flavored nicotine vapes and e-cigarettes more than any other demographic. According to the Center for Disease Control’s 2024 National Youth Tobacco Survey, adults age 21 to 24 were the “most likely to use electronic cigarettes” in 2023, with 15.5% of respondents in that range reporting using them at some point that year. In response, the Southern Nevada Health District also declared youth vaping a “persistent public health threat” last month.

This growing concern comes despite years of warnings that these products pose health threats that mirror those of traditional cigarettes, including respiratory and cardiovascular complications and cognitive impairment. According to the most recent Nevada Adult Tobacco Survey, which interviewed 800 Nevadans in late 2023, the number of respondents who recently used electronic cigarettes and vape products increased from 36.8% in 2022 to 37.7% in 2023.

Notably, 61% of those surveyed also supported prohibiting smoking and vaping anywhere on college campuses—a policy that SNHD health educator Cassandra Meraz says is important for deterring students from becoming lifelong consumers. While the new policy at NSU is promising, she now sees CSN as the last major domino to topple in the quest to normalize campus bans statewide. 

With an enrollment of more than 30,000, CSN’s student body is the second largest in the state behind UNLV’s 33,000. Last year, the Associated Students of the College of Southern Nevada sent a letter in support of a tobacco ban to CSN leadership. Clarissa Cota, vice president of external relations and campus operations, says the goal is to have an approved tobacco policy by the end of the fall semester.

“CSN is currently reviewing its smoking [and] vaping policy, which was drafted last year. The policy will need to move through our existing policy review procedures, including input from our shared governance groups,” Cota says. 

Assistant professor of communications Seseer Mou-Danha championed the tobacco-free policy at NSU. She took up the issue after a student brought it to her attention during a 2024 NSU Sustainability Council meeting.

She proceeded to assemble the Sustainability Council’s Breathe with Ease team to address that concern, which then partnered with the health district, the Truth Initiative and other campus groups and state health organizations to successfully lobby the school’s faculty senate to approve the new smoke-free policy in spring. 

As part of that push, Mou-Danha secured a $20,000 grant from the health district to help facilitate the transition. UNLV saw similar funding in 2022, Meraz says, noting that the money will help NSU “spread the messaging on their campus related to the policy” through signage and other promotional efforts. 

Meraz cites the UNLV ban—which prohibits students, staff and visitors alike from using any nicotine-based product, including vapes and smokeless tobacco like Zyn, on all university-owned properties, grounds and vehicles—as “the gold standard of what people want to see” at other Nevada colleges. NSU’s ban is nearly identical. 

For advocates like Mou-Danha, campus smoke-free policies are more about changing social expectations and raising awareness than they are about issuing harsh penalties. Under the NSU ban, she says a first violation “will be addressed through education,” while “repeated instances may result in verbal redirection or written documentation.” Just as important, though, are related efforts to connect students and staff with programs designed to help them quit. 

Meraz and Mou-Danha believe campus bans are a crucial step toward offsetting the more than $75 million the greater tobacco industry spends to market its products in Nevada each year. For comparison, the state spent just $3.5 million on tobacco control programs in 2023.

“Smoking quickly becomes an addictive behavior, and younger people are especially susceptible to the practice,” Mou-Danha says. “Policies like this reduce smoking behavior among college students as documented in extensive research, and adopting a no-smoking policy also makes schools eligible for smoking cessation support provided by the Southern Nevada Health District.”

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