Newswise — One of the largest and oldest collegiate rodeo clubs in the nation has gone tobacco free.
NASCAR recently banned all tobacco advertising and collegiate sports have done the same. Rodeo is one of the last places you'll find advertising by tobacco companies. But you'll no longer find it at South Dakota State University.
Beginning with its 50th annual Jackrabbit Stampede in April, SDSU rodeo ended a 30-year tradition of tobacco company sponsorship.
Reaction to South Dakota State's decision to ban all tobacco advertising has been mixed, as expected, said Fred Cholick, dean of the SDSU College of Agriculture and Biological Sciences.
"It's been about the level of reaction I anticipated," he said. "The tobacco companies feel we're changing tradition that is changing their paradigm. They're concerned that we're setting a precedent. And we are. We're definitely setting a precedent in South Dakota in that we're the largest institution that's done this and the largest collegiate rodeo that's done this. We hope it sends a positive message."
The Department of Health certainly thinks it does.
"What SDSU has decided to do is so great," said Doneen Hollingsworth, secretary of the South Dakota Department of Health. "They should absolutely be applauded for making this courageous decision and we're thrilled to work with SDSU and the rodeo club on this."
Statistics show that college students are a key group to target in the fight against tobacco use. According to the American Cancer Society, one in 10 college-age students today will die prematurely from tobacco-related illness.
"We're doing better with teens," Hollingsworth said. "Kids are making it through middle school and high school and then starting to smoke in college. In 2002, 36 percent of 18- to 24-year-olds were current smokers. One of the reasons is that tobacco companies are targeting college-age kids. Anything we can do as public policy to encourage a smoke-free environment for college-age kids is important.
"SDSU is working not only to support academic achievement for its students, but also healthy lifestyles. It's really important that the rodeo club and SDSU as a whole are taking steps to encourage healthy choices, and the hazards of tobacco use warrant those steps."
Since the 1970s, SDSU students have competed for regional and national rodeo points to earn scholarships sponsored by tobacco companies. SDSU is now replacing that scholarship money with scholarships funded by health organizations.
"The landscape has changed and science is ever changing," Cholick said. "We know things today about the effects of tobacco that we didn't know years ago. We're responding to those changes."
The move is also in step with the national Smokeless Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement, a settlement between the states that sued the tobacco companies and the tobacco companies themselves. The national agreement prohibits tobacco companies from targeting youth, from advertising in arenas and from doling out samples anywhere other than adult-only settings.
"The national agreement says tobacco companies are not to target youth," Cholick said, "and there are a lot of youth at our rodeos. It's not the place to advertise tobacco and tobacco products. We can't be hypocritical. We can't accept scholarship money if we say they can't advertise."
Unlike other athletic scholarships, where students receive money simply for participating in a sport, rodeo scholarships are given on a purely competitive basis; students get scholarships for winning at the club, regional and national levels.
"Now, at the 10 rodeo events at SDSU, the highest point ranked SDSU students will win money, guaranteeing scholarships in each area," Cholick said. "Before, there was no guarantee; students had to place both regionally and nationally to win scholarship money. Our students will still compete regionally and nationally and if they win, they'll still be champions, they'll just not accept the tobacco money. The health scholarship money will replace that."
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