U-M and neighbor Eastern Michigan University (EMU) do not meet much on the athletic fields this year. But there is an upcoming competition between the schools that has larger ramifications than any scoreboard.

A Washtenaw County challenge will bring a new twist to the American Cancer Society’s (ACS) Great American Smokeout Nov. 18. The Smokeout, held annually on the third Thursday in November, challenges participants to stop using tobacco for at least one day. It also raises awareness of ways to quit for good.

U-M and EMU will battle for the first time to see which campus can get the most faculty, staff, students and members of the community to sign a pledge to give up smoking for that day. The school that collects the most signatures will earn a traveling trophy that will be contested annually, says Linda Thomas of the U-M Health System’s Tobacco Consultation Service.

“The goal of Smokeout is, if a person quits for 24 hours, they may try to quit longer,” Thomas says. “But even if they do not, each time a person has success at quitting, even for the briefest periods, the experience increases the efficacy of the person to eventually quit for good.”

Joan McGowan, associate professor of dentistry and tobacco cessation coordinator in the School of Dentistry, tells of a patient in one of the school’s clinics who quit on the spot recently after smoking a pack a day for 12 years.

“I asked her why she wanted to quit now and she said, ‘Because my boyfriend doesn’t smoke,'” McGowan says, holding the pack of cigarettes the woman handed to her. “I said, ‘It doesn’t matter to me what your motivation is. If you want to quit, I will help you.’ That is our attitude.”

Participants who sign up will be given a “quit kit” featuring literature about quitting, the dangers of second-hand smoke, and information about the patch and Nicotrol Inhaler. The kits also will contain coffee straws—for people who have a hand-mouth fixation—toothpicks, gum and mints.

According to the ACS, 440,000 people in the United States die each year from tobacco use, or one of every five deaths. The society notes cigarettes kill more Americans than alcohol, traffic fatalities, suicide, AIDS, homicide and illegal drugs combined.

“This is very important to us because we have an obligation to our peers to educate them about the harmful effects of cigarettes,” says Peter Hwang of University Students Against Cancer, which will help distribute kits and sign up smokers on U-M’s campus. Students decide to try smoking because [they think] it is cool, and before they know it they have been smoking for 15 years.”

The kits will be distributed Nov. 17, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. on the Central Campus Diag, and from
11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. at the University Hospital Cafeteria, North Campus Pierpont Commons and the Michigan Union.

Ann Arbor-area distribution will be at Hiller’s Market, 3615 Washtenaw Ave.; Lowe’s, 3900 Carpenter Road (Ypsilanti); Polly’s Market, 1101 M-52 (Chelsea); and Wal-Mart, 2515 Ellsworth Road (Ypsilanti).

The School of Dentistry will distribute quit kits to faculty, staff, students and patients Nov. 17.