(Photo By Flickr User Elvert Barnes)
The University of Illinois is planning to ban all tobacco products on campus next year.
Starting next August, the no smoking policy will extended to include all smokeless tobacco products.
That includes chewing tobacco, “orbs,” and strips, the News Gazette & WAND-TV reports.
The current smoke-free policy also bans vaping or electronic cigarettes that emit nicotine vapor instead of smoke.
The News Gazette said out of more than 2,000 college campuses that are now smoke-free, many are also tobacco-free.
Parkland College, Danville Area Community College, and the University of Illinois at Chicago are all tobacco free.
The ban will apply to students, faculty, all employees and campus visitors, and fans at sporting events. It also extends to all UI owned properties, both indoors and outdoors, and private vehicles parked on campus property.
Like the no-smoking policy, the tobacco ban would apply to students, faculty, other employees and visitors to campus, including fans at sporting events. It would cover all UI-owned property, indoors and outdoors, as well as private vehicles parked on campus property.
UI will appoint a task force of faculty members and students to spend the next ten months coming up with best practices and to help develop the details of the policy.