Rationale for Prohibiting Smoking, Cannabis, Nicotine, and Tobacco Products Use

Valley City State University is committed to a healthy and safe environment for students, employees, and visitors. Use of  cannabis, nicotine, and tobacco products including but not limited to, e-cigarettes and vaping products is prohibited on all campus property. Campus property includes all property, both indoor and outdoor, that is owned, operated, leased, occupied, or controlled by Valley City State University, all buildings, green spaces, athletic fields, parking lots, sidewalks, walkways, and state vehicles. This policy applies to all employees, students, visitors, and contractors. The purpose of this policy is to protect the public health and welfare by prohibiting smoking and the use of cannabis, nicotine, and tobacco products, including Electronic Smoking Device (ESDs); to guarantee the right of nonsmokers to breathe smoke free air, while recognizing that the need to breathe smoke free air shall have priority over the desire to smoke; and to encourage a healthier, more productive living/learning environment for all members of our campus community. The smoking of tobacco, hookahs, nicotine. or cannabis products and the use of ESDs are forms of air pollution and constitute both a danger to health and a material public nuisance.

Prohibition of Cannabis, Nicotine, and Tobacco Products Use and Advertising

1. Valley City State University prohibits the use of all forms of cannabis, nicotine, and tobacco products on campus property and at all off-campus, school-sponsored events at all times. This cannabis, nicotine, and tobacco-free policy includes all events held on campus property, whether or not such events are sponsored by, or associated with, Valley City State University. This does not include any products approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration for legal sale as a tobacco cessation product and is being marketed and sold solely for the approved purpose.
2. No cannabis, nicotine, and tobacco related advertising or sponsorship shall be permitted on campus property or in campus publications. “cannabis, nicotine, and tobacco related” refers to the use of a cannabis, nicotine, and tobacco brand, corporate name trademark, logo, or any other product identifiable with any brand of cannabis, nicotine, or tobacco or Tobacco Company.
3. Valley City State University prohibits the sale or free sampling of cannabis, nicotine, and tobacco products on campus property and at off-campus, school-sponsored events.
   
   

Definitions

• Electronic smoking devices include any product containing or delivering nicotine, CBD, THC, or any other substance intended for human consumption that can be used by a person in any manner for the purpose of inhaling vapor or aerosol from the product. The term includes any such device, whether manufactured, distributed, marketed, or sold as an e-cigarette, e-cigar, e-pipe, e-hookah, or vape pen, or under any other product name or descriptor, but does not include medically prescribed inhalers.
• Hookah is defined as a water pipe and any associated products and devices which are used to produce fumes, smoke, and/or vapor from the burning of material including, but not limited to, tobacco, shisha, or other plant matter.
• Smoking is defined as inhaling, exhaling, burning, or carrying any lighted or heated cigar, cigarette, pipe, hookah, or any other lighted or heated tobacco, nicotine, or plant product intended for inhalation, including cannabis products, whether natural or synthetic, in any manner or in any form. Smoking also includes the use of an electronic smoking device which creates an aerosol or vapor, in any manner or in any form, or the use of any oral smoking device for the purpose of circumventing the prohibition of smoking in this policy.
• Tobacco products: include but are not limited to, tobacco leaf, cigarettes, cigars, pipe tobacco, hookah tobacco, snuff, chewing tobacco, dipping tobacco, bidis, blunts, clove cigarettes, any other preparation of tobacco, or any product or formulation of matter containing biologically active amounts of nicotine that is manufactured, sold, offered for sale, or otherwise distributed with the expectation that the product or matter will be introduced into the human body by inhalation, ingestion, or absorption.
• Nicotine products: include but are not limited to, nicotine pouches, nicotine toothpicks, or any product or formulation of matter containing biologically active amounts of nicotine that is manufactured, sold, offered for sale, or otherwise distributed with the expectation that the product will be introduced into the human body by inhalation, ingestion, or absorption.
• Cannabis product includes any substance containing THC and/or any psychoactive substances derived from the hemp and cannabis plants such as Delta products. This includes but is not limited to flowers, concentrates, edibles, topicals, oral products, vape products, and transdermal products.

Assistance for tobacco cessation is available through Student Health Services. Individuals requesting assistance with tobacco cessation services will be referred to NDQuits, the North Dakota Department of Health multi-media tobacco cessation program. This is a free cessation service provided to anyone currently residing in North Dakota. 

Exemptions

It is not a violation of this policy for an adult Native American to use tobacco as part of a traditional Native American spiritual or cultural ceremony according to SBHE 917 Smoke-Free Facilities. Contact the Vice President for Student Affairs to obtain approval for an on-campus ceremony. All parties impacted by the ceremony will be informed and an agreement will be reached regarding the date and time for the ceremony.

Communication of Cannabis, Nicotine, and Tobacco-free policy

This policy will be printed in the employee and the student handbooks. Valley City State University shall post signs indicating that the campus property is tobacco-free in all locations and in the manner identified in NDCC 23-12-10.4.1(a) and (b). In addition, notices should be posted in other highly visible places on campus property including, but not limited to, walkways, athletic fields, parking lots and at all off-campus, school-sponsored events. In accordance with Valley City State University’s plan for communicating this policy, the Vice President for Student Affairs will communicate the importance of the tobacco-free campus policy at least once per semester via campus-wide emailing to all students and employees. 

Responsibility/Enforcement

Enforcement of this policy will depend upon the cooperation of all faculty, staff and students to not only comply with the policy, but also to encourage others to comply in order to promote a healthy environment in which to work, study and live. 

Violations of this policy should be referred to the appropriate administrative office for review and appropriate action: for faculty, the Office of the Vice President for Academic Affairs; for staff, the Office of the Vice President for Business Affairs; for students, the Office of the Vice President for Student Affairs.

Sponsor: President

Effective date: January 1, 2008

Revised: January 2012 

Revised: June 2015

Revised: March 2017

Revised:  January 2022

Revised:  February 2023

Revised:  February 2024

Revised:  March 2025