Facilitators of a Campus Tobacco-free Policy: Navigating the Politics

Objective: In this paper, we discuss prioritization, formulation, and adoption of a comprehensive campus tobacco-free policy on a large, diverse campus at a public university in the United States. Methods: We examined the comprehensive campus tobacco-free policy experience through Kindgon’s Multiple Streams Framework, which stipulates that policy change can happen when problem, policy, and politics align. We focus on the factors that led the political stream to align with the problem and policy streams to create a “window of opportunity” for adopting this policy. Results: The campus experience with COVID-19 helped spur policy adoption. Support from leadership, a committed faculty-administration team, engagement with stakeholders and community partners, knowledge of the policy adoption process, and sustained advocacy all contributed to policy adoption. Conclusions: Campus tobacco-free policy advocates can navigate the politics of prioritizing, formulating, and adopting a campus smoke-free policy by knowing the context and process, being comfortable with policy work, engaging with tobacco prevention stakeholders, sustaining their efforts and advocating in multiple ways, and considering implementation and evaluation early.