Responsible Officers: Executive Vice President for Student Success; Executive Director of Human Resources
Responsible Executives: Executive Vice President for Student Success; Executive Vice President for Business and Finance
I. PURPOSE
The purpose of this policy is to establish guidelines on smoking and the use of tobacco products on property owned or controlled by Motlow State Community College (Motlow State), pursuant to Tennessee Board of Regents (TBR) Policy 1.07.00.10. This policy applies to all faculty, staff, students, and visitors to Motlow State.
II. DEFINITIONS
- Smoking – Inhaling, exhaling, burning, or carrying any lighted cigar, cigarette (including an electronic cigarette), pipe or other lighted instrument or product that emits smoke or vapor, in any manner or in any form.
- Vaping – The act of inhaling and exhaling the aerosol, often referred to as vapor, which is produced by an e-cigarette or similar device. Under this policy, vaping is considered smoking.
- Electronic Cigarette (e-cigarette) – An electronic device that converts nicotine into a vapor that is inhaled by the user.
- Smokeless Tobacco – Includes snuff, which is fine-grain tobacco that often comes in pouches that users put between their lower lip or cheek and gum, and chewing tobacco, which comes in shredded, twisted or bricked tobacco leaves.
III. GUIDELINES
- Prohibitions on Smoking and Use of Smokeless Tobacco
- Smoking and use of smokeless tobacco is prohibited in all buildings owned and operated by Motlow State. This prohibition applies to all hallways, classrooms, laboratories, seminar/meeting rooms, offices, restrooms, indoor and open-air athletic facilities, performance halls, parking garages and all other spaces in Motlow State-owned or operated buildings.
- Entrances to all Motlow State buildings are designated as smoke and smokeless tobacco-free. Unless otherwise posted, smoking and use of smokeless tobacco is prohibited within 25 feet of all doorways, windows, and ventilation systems of all Motlow State buildings. Smokers are responsible for ensuring that all smoking activity, including the lighting and discarding of smoking materials, takes place more than 25 feet from the doorways, windows, and ventilation systems of Motlow State buildings to avoid infiltration of smoke into the buildings. Smokeless tobacco users are responsible for discarding the products of their tobacco use responsibly. The smokeless tobacco and/or its juices must be spat into a disposable cup or container that is then disposed of in the trash. Spitting tobacco and/or its juices on the floor, sidewalk, grass, landscape beds or pavement is prohibited.
- Smoking and use of smokeless tobacco is prohibited in all motor vehicles owned, leased, or operated by Motlow State. This prohibition applies to motor vehicles rented by Motlow State, but does not apply to motor vehicles rented individually by an employee for use in Motlow State business travel unless the travel is being reimbursed by Motlow State and includes another employee who objects to smoking or smokeless tobacco use in the vehicle.
- Notwithstanding anything in this policy to the contrary, Tennessee law prohibits smoking in all private motor vehicles when being used for the public transportation of children or as part of health care or daycare transportation.
- Smoke-Free or Tobacco-Free Campuses
- Penalties for violating this policy are as follows:
- Students – violations should be reported to the Dean of Students
- First offense – verbal warning
- Second offense – probation
- Third offense – suspension
- Fourth offense – expulsion
- Faculty and Staff Employees – violations should be reported to their immediate supervisor
with documentation retained by Human Resources
- First offense – verbal warning
- Second offense – first written warning
- Third offense – written warning/probation
- Fourth offense – termination
- Students – violations should be reported to the Dean of Students
- Penalties for violating this policy are as follows:
- Sale of Tobacco Products and E-Cigarettes Prohibited
- The sale of any products containing tobacco, e-cigarettes and other vaping supplies is prohibited on all property owned or controlled by Motlow State.
- Compliance and Enforcement
- This policy and TBR Policy 1.07.00.10 on smoking and use of smokeless tobacco shall be communicated in writing to all existing employees, all prospective employees upon their application for employment, all students, and all persons who violate the prohibition on smoking or use of smokeless tobacco.
- Motlow State shall post signs reasonably calculated to inform the public of the Motlow State policy regarding smoking and the use of smokeless tobacco. If smoking and the use of smokeless tobacco are permitted in designated areas, those areas must be clearly marked.
- Motlow State employees, students, and visitors may report violations of this policy to their immediate supervisor, the next level of supervision, or the Motlow State employee directly responsible for the facility in which the violation occurs.
- Any Motlow State employee who is found to have violated this policy may be subject to disciplinary action. See Section III.B above.
- Any Motlow State student who is found to have violated this policy may be subject to discipline. For more information, see Section III.A above.
- Visitors to the campus who are observed violating this policy shall be informed of the policy and asked to cease the violation immediately or leave the campus. If they refuse, security should be called to escort the visitor from the campus.
- in this policy shall be construed to limit a supervisor’s ability to establish, regulate, or limit employee work breaks, whether for smoking or otherwise.
SOURCES
CORRESPONDING POLICY
HISTORY
Revised: May 19, 2014; May 24, 2016 – combined with MSCC Policy 3:00:00:03, also dated May 19, 2014, which was rescinded; April 25, 2023
President’s Council Approved: May 24, 2016
Institutional Oversight Committee Approved: August 17, 2023
President’s Cabinet Approved: August 25, 2023
Effective Date/Approved: May 24, 2016; August 25, 2023