Your policy assessment and baseline surveys are the basis of planning your tobacco control initiatives. They anchor and give direction to the development of your goals, objectives, and setting your action plans.

The first step in developing your plan is to prioritize your tobacco control policies. You may find that the discussions about your institution’s policies and comparisons to nationally recommended tobacco policies make the most pressing policies evident.

As you assess your tobacco policies, they will undoubtedly include issues related to smoking in student residence halls (if applicable to your institution), in addition to smoking inside any other university/college buildings including classrooms, offices, labs, etc. These two issues will most likely be the starting point for your university/college policy committee. In addition, the selling of cigarettes and tobacco products on your campus must be addressed. This includes sales in the university/college book store, the student union, and/or any private vendors with food or other sales venues on your campus. Additionally, your committee will need to address the issue of mobile vendors selling tobacco-related products who do not have a permanent outlet on campus and sales in any vending. More than likely, the issue of revenue lost from prohibiting such sales will undoubtedly surface. The potential for fires and liability insurance losses are very compelling legal and human questions which must be weighed in terms of the university/college’s policies.