Ferris State University is launching an effort to help students and employees quit smoking or vaping and create a healthier campus, with a new tobacco-free policy and a series of opportunities to help people kick the habit.

Free nicotine patches, gum and lozenges and other materials are available at Ferris State’s  Birkam Health Center without an appointment.

A state grant supported an informational campaign for campus buildings and grounds crews are removing outdoor ashtrays, which will be broken down and recycled as pothole filler.

The signs back a policy in effect since January 2026. It bans smoking, vaping and all other tobacco and nicotine use, including oral nicotine pouches, on university property and in university vehicles.

That covers parking lots and Ferris State’s Kendall College of Art and Design campus in Grand Rapids. The policy still allows FDA-approved nicotine replacement products to be used to help people quit.

Christy Bourdlais, Birkam's clinic manager, said people pick up the habits around them. The policy also removes easy access.

Birkam stocks several strengths of each product, so users can start at a high dose and taper down. Anyone can walk in, including students who haven't paid the student health center fee. Users who want to quit quietly can skip the conversation.

Pharmacy and nursing students will staff tables in the Birkam lobby and walk visitors through their options. Bourdlais said students often respond better to peers than to staff.

A patch doesn't address the oral fixation and anxiety that come with quitting, Bourdlais said. To help with those, Jess Helfmann, Ferris' treasury manager and chair of its sustainability committee, is delivering flavored toothpicks, gum, Altoids and fidgets to Birkam.

"We don't want to do this to hurt people," Helfmann said. “In order to help them, we have to offer the things that can help them quit."

Students who need more help can see Scott Winkle, site coordinator for Ten16 Recovery Network. He offers smoking cessation counseling through Collegiate Recovery Education Wellness, or CREW, upstairs from Birkam, where the Personal Counseling Center also sits.

Vaping is the most common form of nicotine use Bourdlais sees among students. Its lack of smell gives it a cleaner image than cigarettes or chewing tobacco, she said.

"But it's just as harmful," Bourdlais said. "I understand that between 18 and 22 years old, you're not concerned with those types of things. But it's developing a dependence on that substance that definitely can affect you the rest of your life."

Birkam staff hear the toll in students who have vaped for years.

"You can totally tell just by listening to somebody's lung sounds," Bourdlais said. "Those people are sick more often. They don't recover from illness as quickly."

"This age is a perfect group to target because they're away from home," she said. "… They want to fit in. They don't want to be the one kid that goes, 'No, that's okay. I don't want to do that.'"

Still, she believes attitudes are shifting.

"There are a lot of these kids at this age that have seen grandparents and parents struggle with any type of addiction, specifically nicotine and tobacco," Bourdlais said. "Grandpa is on oxygen his whole life and that's all they know of him."

The policy makes enforcement everyone's job, starting with a polite reminder. Repeat violations go to the Office of Student Conduct or Human Resources.

Michelle Kelly, associate professor of Pharmacy Practice and Pharmaceutical Science in the College of Pharmacy, wrote and initiated the policy. Helfmann credits Kelly's push and the backing of Amanda Matheson, vice president for Administration and Finance, for its approval.

Helfmann holds an education degree and serves on the Tri-County Public Schools board. She said students drive their work.

"You see those kids struggle," Helfmann said. “If you can show them before they go through that struggle, you're making the world a better place, and you're making someone's life a little easier."

Helfmann will judge the policy's success by what disappears from campus: people smoking or vaping, and cigarette butts on the ground. Bourdlais will watch Birkam's intake form.

"It's a question we ask when they come in and it's a vital sign. 'Are you a smoker?'" Bourdlais said. "… It would be great just to see that question with a 'No' checked next to it more often than 'Yes.'"

_{Photo courtesy of Ferris State University.}