Thank you for NOT smoking: A history of smoking on the campus of UNCG

The history of tobacco in the United States is synonymous with the history of North Carolina. North Carolina’s tobacco ventures date to the early 16th century, with the arrival of the first English settlers and the crop has long played a key role in the development of the state’s business and agriculture heritage. Major tobacco manufactures, such as R.J. Reynolds and James Duke, had presence in the state directly following the Civil War. Despite these strong ties, when the State Normal and Industrial College (now UNCG) for women opened in 1892, its founder Charles McIver, expressly forbade smoking by the students on campus.

While smoking was formally prohibited, this did not stop the students from occasionally risking punishment for the chance to smoke a cigarette. In 1897, a “smoking indecent” occurred during which over 30 students were caught smoking by administrators. As a consequence of their actions, they were required to write individual confession letters admitting their guilt and identifying if they knew other students who had smoked. It is unclear what, if any, formal reprimand was given for such a breach of college rules.



A letter Chancellor Foust sent home to parents
announcing the new smoking policies 

The prohibition of smoking on campus would continue until the fall of 1931, when Chancellor Julius Foust was presented a signed petition from 1032 students requesting that the policy be amended. At that time, over 1/3 of judicial “student conduct write-ups” were for violating smoking regulations.

Recognizing the futility of continuing to ban smoking, Foust, under the authorization given to him by the Board of Directors, reached a compromise for the girls to smoke the rest of the academic year (January to May 1932); however, they were only allowed to smoke in their dorm rooms following specific regulations. Foust was reluctant to condone such behavior, believing it to be unhealthy and that “any student who becomes addicted to the habit of smoking to excess will, in after years, regret it.”

Over the next decades, campus policies on smoking periodically shifted, reflecting the current social climate. During the 1950s and 1960s, smoking was permitted in designated areas in various buildings, and for a trial period, in large seminar classrooms at the professor’s discretion.  By the 1970s, there was some student push back on the policies. They wanted a ban on smoking in classrooms, noting its bothersome nature and negative health effects. However, it would not be until the late 1980s and early 1990s, with the launch of a public national campaign highlighting the harmful effects of tobacco, that a serious movement would occur to curb smoking at UNCG.

In June 1990, following the recommendations put forth by the Health Promotion Committee, a new smoking policy was implemented across the campus.  It established a Smoking Regulation Committee, which was charged with reviewing and recommending which buildings would prohibit smoking. Some faculty members were disappointed that Chancellor William Moran did not issue a smoking ban across the entire campus and questioned if UNCG’s heavy financial ties to local tobacco companies, such Lorillard and R.J. Reynolds, had a factor in his reluctant stance

In March 1991, nine campus buildings were designated as “smoke-free,” including the Bryan, Curry, and McIver buildings, and by December, this number would grow to a total of sixteen. The University would eventually forbid smoking in all buildings, including residence halls. Finally, in August 2008, a new outdoor smoking policy was adopted that prohibited smoking within twenty-five feet of any campus building. Today, UNCG remains committed to helping curb tobacco use by students and faculty though their support of cession programs and services.

A "Most Unfortunate Experience:" Cars on Campus in 1928

The 1928 Student Handbook, which was distributed to all students attending the North Carolina College for Women (now UNCG), clearly listed the regulations that heavily impacted student life on campus. From mandating quiet hours to setting curfews to limiting students’ ability to travel off campus, these regulations were enforced by the Student Government Association along with the campus administration. One section of the regulations made clear the rules regarding riding in cars. Section VI, Rule 1 stated that “no student may ride at any time without permission from her Counselor, and a riding permission from her parents or guardian.” Further rules in Section VI of the regulations stated that “no student may keep a car on campus except Seniors during commencement” and that “no student may drive a car in Greensboro except when the car belongs to her immediate family.”

College Avenue (circa 1930) with a few cars that definitely didn't belong to students

In February 1928, an incident occurred which resulted in six NCCW students coming before the Student Government Association with charges of violating these regulations. According to the investigation that was carried out by SGA and a May 3 letter from President Julius Foust, six students pooled their money and purchased a “Ford machine” (likely a Model T or possibly a new Model A). They “hid it somewhere in Greensboro, taking rides occasionally in it without the consent or knowledge of the authorities of the college.” They were able to hide their automobile ownership for an undisclosed period of time.

It was only when they were in involved in an accident that their rule-breaking was discovered. On February 9, 1928, the students were travelling outside of Greensboro when they were involved in a serious wreck. According to a February 14 letter from college Vice President Walter Clinton Jackson to the mother of one of the students involved, “five of the girls were in the car on a road some seventeen or eighteen miles from Greensboro when they lost control of the car while going at high speed and it crashed into a telephone pole … One of the girls was rather seriously injured, and all of them I understand were shocked and more or less shaken up. It was only by a miracle that any of them escaped fatal injury” (side note: none of the reports mention alcohol being a factor and, as this was at the height of Prohibition, that certainly would have caused additional scandal).

President Julius Foust

The Student Government deliberated about their wrongdoings and decided to impose a thirty-day suspension for all of the student involved. But President Foust determined that their offense warranted a greater punishment. He surveyed the faculty members who worked with the students, asking them to provide him with a statement addressing each of the students’ “ability, her attitude towards her work with you, the character of work she has been doing for you, and whether or not she can probably or possibly pass the semester’s work under you if she is permitted to return to the college at the end of a month’s suspension.” In regards to one of the students involved, Professor J.C. Laird of the Department of Romance Languages replied, “I have thought that she was rather indifferent … To be perfectly frank, she is a girl that I have wondered about and haven’t been able to make out or understand.”

In the end, the five students who were actually involved in the wreck were suspended for the remainder of the semester. The sixth student who was a co-owner of the car but was not present for the accident was allowed to return to campus after the thirty days. Vice President Jackson wrote to the parents of the suspended students on March 8, stating “the whole incident is most distressing to him [President Foust] and also to me, and our sympathies are all with you and your daughter in this serious trouble, but we have a responsibility to the college that we cannot overlook. We hope that this most unfortunate experience will in the end make her a stronger and better woman that she otherwise could have been.”