Butts Out

University of Texas moves to completely ban smoking to land $88 million incancer grants

University of Texas at Austin officials announced on Thursday afternoon that they could implement a completely tobacco-free campus initiative, with official talks on the smoking ban starting as early as Friday.

UT already designates indoor spaces, classrooms and dorms — and a distance of 20 feet from campus buildings' entrances — as a non-smoking zone, but the push for a full-on ban has been influenced by the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas, an organization that has awarded researchers at UT approximately $30 million in research funding.

The university is applying for $88 million more from the institution this year, and the stipulation for consideration: Campus must be tobacco-free by March 1.

The University of Texas wouldn't be the first to ban tobacco campus-wide: The Daily Texan notes that other branches of the university — UT-Arlington, UT-Brownsville and the UT Health Science Center in San Antonio — have already implemented the rule. Austin Community College, Huston-Tillotson University and Texas State University have banned tobacco use as well.

The university is applying for $88 million more from the institution this year. Stipulation for consideration: Campus must be tobacco-free by March 1.

And the UT Student Government had already resolved to push for a smoke-free campus over a period of seven years, in spite of opposition by university president William Powers Jr.

Adrienne Howarth-Moore, UT's director of human resource services, told the Austin-American Statesman that "any enforcement strategy will center on education, not-wrist-slapping," saying that the university will avoid fining those who break the rules and will continue to offer initiatives such as free smoking-cessation classes.

In the ban on smoking, how far is too far? How fast is too fast?

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Thanks, Queen Bey

Pop icon Beyoncé donates $100,000 to University of Houston Law School

Photo by Erza Shaw Getty Images

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Pop megastar Beyoncé Knowles-Carter has donated $100,000 to the University of Houston Law Center Criminal Justice Clinic through her BeyGOOD Foundation. The gift will allow the clinic to hire fill-time faculty to head it, benefiting the students who study there.

“I am delighted that the BeyGOOD Foundation has made this very generous gift to the UH Law Center,” said Leonard Baynes, dean of the UH Law Center. “Not only will this funding help establish a full-time criminal justice clinic that provides pro bono legal services in our community, but it will also supercharge our already excellent criminal law and justice programming.”

The clinic is one of nine at UHLC. It helps students learn to navigate the criminal justice system, especially on behalf of clients that are underserved by skilled attorneys. People of color are affected disproportionately by a lack of good, ethical representation.

Beyoncé, the most decorated artist in Grammy history and easily the biggest musical star native to Houston, has a long history of advocating for criminal justice reform. She was a staunch supporter of the police reform following the deaths of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile, asking law enforcement to “stop killing us” in a web post. In 2020, she penned an open letter to the Kentucky attorney general asking for justice in the death of Breonna Taylor.

Through her BeyGOOD Foundation, established in 2013, Beyoncé has focused mostly on expanding the prospects of Black-owned business and offering education opportunities to students. Forwarding the cause of legal representation in Texas while also helping out marginalized communities compliments her other philanthropic work.

“At UH Law, we envision a legal profession where ‘everyone has the opportunity to prosper,’ as BeyGOOD envisions, and we will achieve this vision by providing access to strong and effective legal representation in criminal proceedings,” Baynes said. “And together, through this gift, the BeyGOOD Foundation and UHLC will shepherd the next generation of criminal justice attorneys in the city of Houston, the state of Texas and the nation.”