Bowdoin College - Presidential Leadership in Policy Change
Private college located in Brunswick, Maine
Enrollment: 1,650 students
Fraternity/sorority membership: Banned at
Bowdoin since 1998
Gender breakdown: Male: 49%, Female: 51%
Racial breakdown: Caucasian: 77%, Hispanic/Latino:
4%, African American: 4%, Asian/ Pacific Islander: 8%, Alaskan
Native/American Indian: 1%, Non-resident aliens: 3%, Unknown:
3%
Summary:
Policy/Program Description. In September
2002, Bowdoin College instituted new tobacco policies that
made all residence halls smoke-free and expanded comprehensive
cessation services to all students, faculty, and staff. Background.
A survey found that the percentage of students who smoke increased
from 3% to 10% between freshman year and graduation. This
plus an awareness of tobacco prevention efforts at other Maine
campuses, and state-initiated smoking bans sparked an initiative
by Bowdoin Health Services for tobacco policy change. Strategy
for Action. Critical student and administrative
committees supported the proposed policy changes. President
Barry Mills took a leadership role. He announced the new tobacco
policy in a letter to the Bowdoin community. Outcomes.
The changes have been widely praised by current and prospective
students, parents, faculty, and staff. Institutional support
for a smoke-free environment has empowered students to regulate
policies through peer-enforcement. President Mills’
leadership on tobacco issues serves as a model for other colleges.
Future Plans. Bowdoin
stays abreast of regional campus tobacco issues through involvement
in Maine’s Tobacco-Free College Network, a group that
advocates smoke-free policies and programs on college campuses
throughout Maine.
Lessons Learned
Letter from President Mills Announcing
the New Tobacco Policies
Background:
A combination of internal and external pressures influenced
Bowdoin College’s Health Services Center, led by Director
Jeff Benson, to make smoke-free residence halls and expanded
cessation services a priority. These included:
- The Office of Institutional Research’s annual Health
Survey indicated that the number of smokers at Bowdoin tripled
between the beginning of freshman year and graduation.
- Representatives from Health Services attended a New England
College Health Association conference where they learned
about the positive effects of new tobacco policies instituted
at the University of Maine at Farmington.
- The State of Maine banned smoking in all indoor workspaces
that couldn’t be properly ventilated, demonstrating
Maine’s changing attitude and environment concerning
smoking. Bowdoin’s Health Services saw an opportunity
to become a part of that change.
Back to Summary
Strategy for Action:
Proposed Policy Changes. Bowdoin’s proposed changes
recognized the importance of creating a smoke-free environment,
as well as providing cessation services for members of the
Bowdoin community who were nicotine-dependent.
The following changes were proposed:
1. A ban on smoking in residence halls, making
all indoor spaces at Bowdoin smoke-free.
2. Expansion of cessation services to include
referrals for students to off-campus health education and
cessation classes at a local hospital. Campus student cessation
services already included:
- Unlimited one-on-one cessation counseling
- Individualized treatment plans
- Prescription benefits for Nicotine Replacement Therapy
(NRT) and buproprion
3. Referrals to comprehensive cessation
services would also be made for faculty and staff, and would
include:
- Cessation classes
- Support groups
- NRT covered by insurance, with Bowdoin covering the copay
of any other cessation-related prescriptions
Seeking Support for Change. Knowing
that support from campus groups would be necessary, College
Health Services Center Director Jeff Benson approached the
following constituencies to discuss the proposed tobacco policy
changes:
- Student Government. Student government generally
supported the proposed changes, but opted not to take a
formal stance on the issue, because of concerns that they
might alienate smoking students. Still, seeking their opinion
was an important step.
- Student Affairs Committee. The committee, made
up of representatives from various student life offices
and groups, was quite supportive of the proposed changes.
The committee also held the authority to make policy change.
Had President Mills had not exercised his authority to make
the policy change, the Student Affairs Committee would have
voted on the policy proposals. It was thus critical to seek
their support.
- Senior Administration. Senior Administration,
comprised of deans and other top administrators, gave unanimous
support for the new tobacco policies.
At meetings with each group, Benson made educational presentations
in order to gain support for policy change. In addition, Benson
took the time to meet one-on-one with key students, faculty,
and administrators. Benson also used his weekly health column
in the school newspaper to write an article about the risks
and negative effects of smoking in dormitories.
After gaining general support for the proposed changes, Health
Services began a six-month process of gathering information
and fleshing out the details of the new policy. Part of this
process involved exploring what other colleges of similar
size and academic culture were doing about tobacco. Finding
that few other small New England colleges had strong tobacco
policies, Benson saw the opportunity for Bowdoin to “lead
the field” in this regard.
Soliciting Presidential Leadership.
Once the opinions of all critical constituencies had been
sought, obtaining the support of President Barry Mills became
Health Services’ top priority. President Mills had the
power to make policy change, and since there was general support
on campus, a decision by Mills would be the most efficient
route to a smoke-free environment at Bowdoin. Benson arranged
a personal meeting with the Mills to discuss the policy proposal.
According to Benson, the two arguments that convinced President
Mills were:
- Second-hand smoke is a Class A Carcinogen with no threshold
for a safe level of exposure. Supporting an academic, working,
and living environment where individuals were exposed to
carcinogens presented a serious ethical dilemma.
- Smoke-free dorms may reduce the uptake of smoking in
colleges by up to 40% (Results from the Harvard College
Alcohol Study).
President Mills’ initial concern was the potential
for backlash from students who might view the changes as paternalistic.
However, health services had already sought out the opinions
of all critical constituents. Mills used his authority to
make the proposed changes official college policy.
President Mills saw this as an opportunity to be a leader
among the schools that Bowdoin benchmarked itself against,
and to become more competitive as an institution. Bowdoin
would be one of the first small, private, New England colleges
to implement smoke-free policies, and Mills would be one of
the first Presidents to take a strong stance on the issue.
Demonstrating that health is a priority could also enhance
Bowdoin’s appeal to prospective students and their parents.
Presidential Policy Implementation.
Bowdoin’s new tobacco policies were announced in a letter
from President Mills to all faculty, staff, and students at
the beginning of the 2002 academic year. (See “Tobacco
Policy Change Announcement” at the end of this case
study.) Because the President himself had called for the policy
change, implementation was almost immediate. The change was
announced on a Friday, and took effect the following Monday.
Bowdoin is a small school, so dissemination of this information
was fairly simple. In addition to a letter from the President,
distributed both by email and hard copy to all students, staff,
and faculty, meetings were held with dorm proctors and Resident
Assistants (RA) to help them understand the policy and how
to best communicate the changes within the dorms.
Enforcement. Enforcement of the
new policies is informal. The overall goal is to change the
tobacco culture on campus to make respecting smoking policies
part of a larger cultural change. No tickets or fines are
issued. Instead, peer enforcement is the main strategy for
preventing smoking violations. Thus far, the administration
has not needed to establish more formal enforcement policies,
as violations are rare.
Back to Summary
Outcomes:
The tobacco policy changes have been widely accepted. Student
backlash was minimal, confined mainly to a few editorials
in the school’s conservative student newspaper. On the
other hand, the primary student newspaper and the progressive
student newspaper have been very supportive of the change.
President Mills has received praise and support from students,
staff, and faculty. The smoke-free residence hall policy has
been instrumental in supporting a smoke-free culture at Bowdoin.
While enforcement is informal, the issue has not become a
disciplinary concern. The policy aims to empower nonsmokers
to enforce the rules among their peers, knowing that they
have institutional support for their right to carcinogen-free
air.
Results from the most recent health survey are not yet in,
and it is assumed that it will take a few years to detect
change in tobacco use among students.
Although cessation services for students are not widely used,
several faculty and staff members have taken advantage of
the expanded services. Individuals are receiving needed assistance
and the availability of services sends a clear message that
Bowdoin supports faculty and staff in their attempts to live
healthy lives.
The smoke-free environment has been appealing to prospective
students and their parents. Bowdoin has received positive
feedback from parents of incoming students. During the first
year the college received about a dozen letters from parents
of prospective students, praising the tobacco policy changes
made at Bowdoin.
President Mills’ leadership has also influenced policy
at other small New England colleges. His letter announcing
the policy changes to the Bowdoin community (printed below)
has been adopted as the basis for proposed policy changes
on similar campuses.
Back to Summary
Future Plans:
Members of Bowdoin’s Health Services Center are involved
with the Maine Tobacco-Free College Network to keep up with
new trends in college tobacco use and policy.
Lessons Learned:
- Lobby hard at the highest levels of administration.
Take the time to lobby those in power to commit to taking
a stance on tobacco, be it the President or the administrators
to whom (s)he listens most closely.
- Solicit student support. Seeking student opinions
will reduce backlash to administrative action and ensure
a more smooth transition when a new policy is established.
- Gather information about what similar schools are
doing. Benchmarking your school’s policies against
those of comparable schools can be a powerful argument for
change. In Bowdoin’s case, finding out what other
schools were doing revealed an opportunity to become a leader
in the field.
- Present research and data to all campus constituents.
Include results from national research projects as well
as information about your own school.
- Consider faculty and staff when proposing policy change.
Faculty and staff spend five days a week or more on campus,
and are often present for many more years than students.
Creating a supportive environment for the entire campus
community will help garner greater support for proposed
changes.
Back to Summary
Letter from President Mills
Announcing the New Tobacco Policies:
To Members of the Bowdoin Community: September 5, 2002
A healthy and safe campus is important to all of us at Bowdoin
College. That's why the time has come for all college buildings
to be "smoke-free." For the safety and wellness
of each of us -- as well as to comply with Maine law -- smoking
is no longer permitted in any college building, including
all student residence halls, apartments, and the College Houses.
I ask those who smoke to do so outdoors, at least 50 feet
from a building entrance and away from open windows. I also
ask that smokers dispose of cigarettes in an appropriate manner.
For those who would like to quit smoking, the College stands
ready to assist you.
After reviewing college medical data, I am convinced that
the elimination of indoor smoke will be beneficial to us all.
As many of you know, environmental tobacco smoke, or "second
hand smoke," is classified by the Environmental Protection
Agency as a "Class A carcinogen." In other words,
it is a substance known to cause cancer, with no safe level
of exposure. In fact, environmental tobacco smoke is the third
leading cause of preventable death in this country. Further,
Maine law does not permit smoking in indoor workplaces, except
in very specially engineered and ventilated spaces. The Maine
statute does not cover student residences. However, college
survey data indicate that while very few of our students arrive
on campus as smokers, a significant number become smokers
while here. Some experiment with "social smoking,"
which greatly increases the chance that they will become addicted
to nicotine. Restricting smoking in all our student residences
should dramatically decrease the number of students who would
otherwise become addicted. It should also greatly reduce the
risk of fire in these buildings.
I realize that it can be very difficult for some smokers
to quit. That's why I have asked Dr. Jeff Benson, director
of health services, and Tama Spoerri, director of human resources,
to develop a college-funded smoking cessation program for
students and employees ready to participate. Additional information
on this program will be made available in the next few days.
The College does not mean to try to force its students or
employees to quit smoking. For those who choose to continue
smoking, and for those who have difficulty quitting, I simply
ask that you smoke outdoors in a manner that does not affect
others.
Thank you for your cooperation.
Sincerely yours,
Barry Mills
For more information on Bowdoin's tobacco policies,
contact:
Jeff Benson
Director, Health Services
jbenson@bowdoin.edu
This case study was written in September 2003.
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