HNRS 4500: SGA Approves Proposal to Amend NC Legislation on Tobacco

East Carolina University Honors College students have utilized their Signature Honors Project to pursue legislative change for UNC System schools. Under General Statute Chapter 143, Article 64, Parts 596 and 597, UNC System universities are prohibited from adopting policies that restrict campus tobacco use farther than 100 feet from buildings. Health science campuses, however, are exempt from the law and authorized to be tobacco-free. Second year Honors students Rachel Davis, Mia Ferry, Ally Foster, Ethan Norris, and Darby White have worked over the past year as a group called “Knock Out Nicotine” in order to remove these state restrictions on UNC System schools’ tobacco policies.

One of the key steps in changing NC legislation is gaining official support from UNC constituents to present to the General Assembly. This started with gaining support for the bill amendment from the Student Government Association(SGA) at ECU.  The SGA approved a resolution sponsored by Honors sophomore Ethan Norris and cosponsored by Honors freshman Logan Harrison that supports amending the law in question, § 143-596. Changing this law would allow UNC System schools to enforce stricter tobacco policies on their campuses. The legislation passed by ECU’s SGA then went on to be introduced by Norris and passed at the UNC system Association of Student Governments, which represents the over 240,000 students that make up the UNC school System. “The passage of AR 5-04 through SGA and CR-01 through the UNC ASG came with overwhelming support from the student representatives,” Norris said. “It is the first step in getting the support from all 17 UNC schools to change the state law.”

Students in Knock Out Nicotine are working toward partnering with legislators to sponsor their proposed bill amendment in the General Assembly. The members of Knock Out Nicotine have reached out to UNC faculty and staff, gathered data from representatives of tobacco-free colleges, and made appeals to 170 North Carolina legislators to move their cause forward. Next steps for the group include gaining ECU Faculty Senate support, introducing legislation to the Student Governments of the other 16 UNC system schools, and gaining bipartisan support from NC legislators. This student-led initiative is a prime example of the Honors College ideal of thinking beyond perceived limitations to pursue real change.