MARQUETTE — It takes a village to keep a campus free from tobacco. So today, Northern Michigan University got the village together for a presentation on going tobacco free.

Late this morning, the Beaumier Alumni Welcome center hosted a presentation entitled, “It Takes a Village: Going Tobacco Free at NMU”; where NMU and Marquette County Health Department speakers addressed the need to keep cigarettes and tobacco off campus.

“This is a celebration of the two year anniversary of NMU’s Tobacco Free Campus policy,” said public health consultant, Jim Harrington, “It’s just an exciting time and a real important thing to celebrate for Northern (Michigan University) because it really helps protect the public, the faculty, and the students here from second hand smoke.”

The goal of removing all smoking-related activity from campus does not stand alone. There is also the need to create an environment where quitting is easy.

“It’ll give the opportunity to quit in an environment that is tobacco free, “Harrington remarked, “It helps people that are trying to quit have a more successful quit attempt.”

The event – which was part of the UP4HEALTH Challenge – was free to the public.