When we first came to Dartmouth nearly four years ago, the prevalence of smoking on campus was not what it is today. One could walk out from the side door of McNutt without inhaling a stray cloud of cigarette smoke, the back porch of the Hop was not cluttered with cigarette butts, and smokers at parties were forced to step outside to light up.
Ironically, we are ever more conscious of the ill consequences of smoking. Likewise, we are increasingly becoming aware of the illicit marketing tactics by which the tobacco industry has undermined our confidence, our intelligence, and worst of all, our good health. There is no question as to the deadly effects of smoking.
And the notorious marketing campaigns -- targeting youth in the U.S. and abroad, questionable lobbying tactics and cover-up after cover-up of internal reports are placing the tobacco manufacturing companies in the public spotlight. Despite this attention, we have witnessed a noticeable rise in smoking at Dartmouth. Current statistics indicate that up to 30 percent of women at the College are currently smokers.
A number of groups on campus are now coming together with the goal of reversing this trend. This collaborative effort is at its beginning stages. It has been funded by a generous local family who recently lost their 49-year-old daughter to lung cancer. This dreaded disease no doubt developed through her addiction to cigarettes which began in her school years. The project will include research, prevention and cessation programs directed at Dartmouth undergraduates.
With Dartmouth now making a campus-wide effort to educate and help its students quit or never take up the smoking habit, a number of us are concerned about mixed messages. On the one hand are Dartmouth institutions and affiliations such as the Dartmouth Medical School, the C. Everett Koop Institute, the Center for the Evaluative Clinical Sciences, the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center and the Norris Cotton Center. These Dartmouth centers try to promote health (including suppressing the usage of and countering the effects of tobacco and cancer) and to disseminate information on the treatment and prevention of disease and illness. On the other hand, the College continues to be a shareholder in tobacco manufacturing corporations. We realize this is a difficult dilemma.
We would like to ask the College officers and board to reflect on this issue. We have drafted a letter appealing to the Trustees (as well as Dartmouth's Council for Investment Responsibility) to consider divesting from its tobacco holdings. We have met with several campus groups and have received their support for the letter, including the Dartmouth Medical School student government.
The Student Assembly was supportive and will be voting soon about a resolution to consider divestment. We hope you also see the inherent contradiction in the present policy of the College with regards to tobacco and will support the Assembly passing a resolution in favor of divestment and any other policies that might discourage this health hazard for the Dartmouth community.
