Many Texas colleges ban vaping but lack meaningful enforcement

Luke Owens says he sees students vape at the University of Texas every day.

Some students do it walking across campus. Others sneak puffs while studying in the library or in the classroom. Owens, an asthmatic pre-med student, doesn't use the products himself, but he's certainly not bothered by them. Even if he were, he's not sure who he would tell.

"Zero idea," Owens said about whether he knows how to report vaping to campus officials. "I have never seen anything advertised or seen anyone have any sort of repercussion for involving themselves with tobacco."

The use of e-cigarettes, or vaping, has skyrocketed nationally in the past several years, resulting in nearly 1,300 cases of lung injury and 26 deaths in 21 states, including at least one in Texas, according to the Centers for Disease Control. Universities across the state have long banned traditional cigarettes and tobacco products, and more recently, many institutions have declared vaping bans as well. The latest to do so was the Texas A&M System, which made national headlines last month for banning the popular habit on its 11 campuses.

But while universities receive high praise for restricting vaping, little appears to be done in stopping the practice on campuses. In an analysis of tobacco and vaping policies, the American-Statesman found vaping bans at many Texas colleges exist without a meaningful enforcement mechanism. Those who violate the policy are subject to consequences only if they're caught in the act by another student, faculty or staff member who sees and reports them to the correct campus office. If the student can be identified, a violation is handled as misconduct issue, with the school focusing on education rather than punishment. It's unclear how many students have been referred to the university's misconduct process for vaping, but a spokeswoman for the Dean of Students, the office that handles misconduct, said it's likely that the numbers are "very low."

"No one really says anything," Owens said of the self-policing mechanism. "It's really a kind of 'you keep to yourself, I'll keep to myself' kind of thing."

Although Texas A&M System Chancellor John Sharp just announced a system-wide vaping ban last month, the practice has been prohibited inside buildings at the flagship university since 2017. Jay Maddox, A&M University's chief wellness officer, said although the policy is based on the honor system, he believes 99.9% of people to be compliant.

"The idea is that we want a campus that promotes the health of our students, staff and faculty," Maddox said. "It's a positive approach."

A similar policy is in place at Texas State University, where vaping was prohibited in June in light of the growing health concerns.

"We haven't noticed any problems with it," said Sandy Pantlik, Texas State spokeswomen. "We really rely on our community to let us know when they see violations of the tobacco policy."

UT has taken somewhat of a more proactive approach than other campuses, hosting a quarterly training session where students, faculty and staff can learn how to intervene when they see someone violating the policy. The sessions, which last about one hour and sometimes provide free lunch, generally draw 15 to 40 people. Nosse Ovienmhada, UT's work-life balance and wellness manager, came to the university in 2015 as the Tobacco Free Campus coordinator and helps train tobacco free campus ambassadors. For her, education is at the heart of ending tobacco and nicotine use.

"That's one of the reasons why, early on, we decided not to do any monetary fines initially," Ovienmhada said. "We wanted to ensure that we could educate individuals."

The ambassadors' training centers around bystander intervention. The ambassadors are taught how to thoughtfully approach nicotine-users in a non-accusatory manner and inform the user about the policy.

"We've found that when people do approach in a kinder way, the non-compliant individual is more likely to leave the area," Ovienmhada said.

If anyone, ambassador or otherwise, wants to confront the practice without actually confronting the user, they can use UT's online reporting portal. The university can then use the data to determine where "hot spots" are on campus, and post signs reminding people of the policy. In the spring semester, two undergraduate interns regularly walked the campus looking for nicotine users, and found that libraries and near dorms were "hot spots" for vaping. Between 2016 and 2018, the portal received 654 reports of tobacco use. It's unclear how many were vaping-related.

Madison Wisdom, a recent graduate of UT's school of public health, worked as the Tobacco Free Campus intern last year. She said the majority of people the ambassadors approached were receptive and friendly. She approached a number of nicotine users during her time at UT, Wisdom said. Once, she remembers approaching a man who was vaping outside of the Perry-Castañeda Library. It was a little nerve-wracking, Wisdom recalled. But the vaper was friendly and thanked her for letting him know about the policy.

Still, she knows they won't convince everyone.

"There's always going to be that small percentage of people, even with a policy like this and our friendly methods, who are not going to be receptive," she said.

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