CONWAY, SC (WBTW) – Coastal Carolina University recently installed new smoke-free signs on campus to include vaping.
CCU has been a smoke-free, tobacco-free campus since 2014.
“As people were getting more and more concerned about people vaping and it’s rise in popularity on a nationwide level we felt that we needed to make it clear that vaping is included in the policy,” said Lee Carter, Director of LiveWell at CCU.
The signs are placed in highly visible areas.
“We wanted to make sure that the signs were in places that visitors would see them, because it does apply to the community. Anyone that’s visiting our campus. So we wanted to include them in parking lots and some of the places that are more likely for community members to come visit,” said Carter.
McKaellen Wilkerson is a freshman at CCU and says she appreciates the smoke-free campus.
Wilkerson says she gets bothered when people break the rule.
“I definitely get a little bit salty when they do, because I’m on an athletics team. So I can’t smoke and can’t be around any smoke of any kind, because it’ll make me sick or I won’t be able to perform as well,” said Wilkerson.
The university has plans to install new signs every five years.
“Since we’ve been tobacco free for so long some of our signs were just showing a lot of wear and tear. We actually figured out through this process that we should probably have a plan to refresh them every five years or so. I think that has come into our awareness just as something to keep on our radar,” said Carter.
“We really have a great community here that is absolutely concerned about the safety and health of our students, as well as our wider community. So it’s a great feeling to know that there are all these people invested in that.”