University of Texas to Discuss Tobacco-Free Campus Policy

The Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas, announced in early February that in order to continue receiving grants, institutions, including the University of Texas, must become tobacco-free by March 1, 2012. Now, members of the UT community must wait for the metaphorical, and, appropriately,  physical, smoke to clear regarding whether or not the university will adopt the policy and secure millions of  dollars that are currently appropriated for cancer-related research.

According to data available on the CPRIT website, the University of Texas has received a cumulative total of more than $30 million in grants that have funded cancer prevention and treatment research. Additionally, the university is eligible to receive $88 million in grants to further research efforts.

According to the Live Tobacco Free Austin campaign, a function of the Austin Tobacco Prevention and Control Coalition, more than one in six adults in Travis County smoke or use other tobacco products. Furthermore, tobacco-related deaths total higher than deaths related to AIDS, crack, heroin, cocaine, alcohol, car accidents, fire, suicide, and murder combined, totaling an average of 11 people a week in Travis County in 2001.

 Dr. Philip Huang, medical director for the Austin-Travis County Health and Human Services Department, said that because these deaths are almost completely preventable, he believes a tobacco-free campus is necessary to help lower those statistics.

“It’s the right thing to do to create a positive health environment, and a more positive environment in general for the students, staff, and faculty,” Huang said. “Some of the highest smoking rates are among youth ages 18 to 24, and if we create a climate where it is just not the norm, that will help people who want to quit to quit, and also help people who might have started smoking to not start.”

The University Health Services already provides several means to help students and staff quit tobacco use, including the Quitters Cessation program through the Counseling and Medical Health Center. Additionally, the university offers lowered copays for nicotine replacement therapy and pharmaceuticals through the UT Select Prescription drug plan.

            Susan Hochman, manager of the UT Health Promotion Resource Center, could not comment on the proposed policy change, but said that she believes the current support given to students and faculty who want to quit is positive.

            “Our office is involved in the prevention side, in terms of helping people to not start smoking and helping people who do smoke,” Hochman said. “We are involved with ensuring that resources and services are provided to support students in case they do want to quit.”

            The City of Austin already has implemented a smoke-free policy in restaurants and city parks, and as of Jan. 16, 2012, tobacco use is prohibited at CapMetro-owned bus stops and transit centers. Additionally, all Austin Community College campuses and Huston-Tillotson University in Austin have recently become tobacco-free.

Eva Valilis, a public health sophomore and member of the Texas Public Health student organization, said that she believes a university ban on tobacco products will make the campus a safer place for smokers and non-smokers alike.

“Texas Public Health has been promoting a ban on tobacco use on campus for nearly a year by reaching out to faculty and students,” Valilis said. “A tobacco-free campus will not only reduce the harmful effects of second hand smoking, but also force smokers to limit their tobacco use and hopefully motivate them to quit altogether.”

source: City of Austin

Renewing a Cultural Heritage

On Wednesday evening, members of the African-American Resource Advisory poured over hundreds of mismatched portraits and histories in an attempt to choose 100 of East Austin’s  African-American cultural district’s most influential residents, both past and present. The faces of these men and women will be tiled around the mural that will adorn the walls of the African-American Cultural Heritage Center, currently under construction and set to open in time for this year’s Juneteenth celebrations.

The center, originally commissioned in 2006, will be built as an expansion around the home of Dedrick Hamilton, one of Travis County’s first freed slaves. The facility will be home to the African-American Visitors Center, the Capital City African-American Chamber of Commerce, and Pro Arts Collective, an organization recognized for its work in spreading knowledge of African-American culture through community involvement in programs such as dance and visual arts. The center will be finished by the summer of 2012, and will cost $4.4 million. But despite the cost, many community members such as Chiquita Eugene, who serves as the chair of the African-American Advisory Commission, believe that the addition of the facility to the neighborhood will help address many problems faced in the East Austin area and revitalize the once culturally-rich area.

“Some issues have to do with cultural events, health issues, educational issues, safety issues…and the concern of business,” Eugene said. “Once upon a time, East Austin, for lack of a better way of explaining it, was the bomb.  That sort of has gone with time, those entrepreneurs that had those businesses have sort of died on the vine so to speak. The facility is going to house all the information…on African-American historical pieces, [as well as a] walking tour of the area that will talk about the history of African Americans in that part of time.”

The portraits are one of the final steps in finalizing the design of a mosaic that will stretch across one wall of the facility. The art is being conceptualized by Reginald Adams, the founder of Museum of Cultural Arts, Houston, an organization dedicated to involving the residents of largely minority populated areas in the creation of art. MOCAH was commissioned by the African American Resource Advisory Committee and Austin’s Art in Public Places program, and Adams said he plans to invite the children of nearby Kealing Middle School to help with the physical creation of the mosaic in hopes of strengthening the community.

“When we go back home, wherever our home may be, the people who live in it and have to spend time around that piece can take ownership in it,” Adams said. “We talk about art as a tool for community development, and the aspect we’re looking at is people taking pride in their neighborhood or in their civic space because of their ability to contribute towards the enhancement of it.”

Robert Organ is the chair of deacons at the Ebenezer Baptist Church, located directly across the street from what will soon be the facility. As a lifelong member of the church and of the East Austin community, Organ believes that the creation of the African-American Cultural Heritage Center will instill in the local community a renewed sense of pride in their past.

“The African-American community is most proud of the preservation and restoration and what that represents,” Organ said. “I think the community as a whole is honored and proud that some value is placed on not only what happened back then, but on maintaining the history.”