Taking Tobacco Out of Higher Education

Tobacco companies, both cigarette and smokeless, seek out affiliation with college communities to promote their products and improve their corporate image. The tobacco industry does this in a variety of ways such as sponsorship of college rodeos, hosting Greek events, distributing free products to college communities, attending career fairs, and funding academic research.

This presentation will examine the industry's relationship with colleges and universities specifically addressing sponsorship of collegiate rodeos and funding of academic research. Participants will learn how and why smokeless tobacco companies sponsor college rodeos, the complexities of working with college rodeos, and strategies for addressing rodeo sponsorship. Additionally, participants will learn how and why the tobacco industry funds academic research and ways tobacco control advocates and university faculty can prevent further funding.

The California Youth Advocacy Network (CYAN) has been working with college campuses throughout the country for 10+ years on tobacco-free policy adoption. CYAN organizes a statewide student coalition which has successfully advocated for a systemwide sponsorship policy at the California State University system. Additionally, CYAN was the lead organizer for a campaign that advocated for the University of California to deny tobacco industry funding of tobacco-related research. Strategies from both policy advocacy campaigns will be shared with session participants.