All University of California facilities will be required to go tobacco-free beginning in 2014, according to a letter UC President Mark Yudof sent to UC chancellors on Monday.
The newly announced ban extends to the sale and advertisement of tobacco on campus. The ban was spurred by health-related interests, but environmental concerns were also a consideration, said UC spokeswoman Lynn Tierney.
Phil Hampton, a UCLA spokesman, said there is no information yet on how this will affect UCLA specifically, since university leaders are in the early stages of forming a committee to enforce the ban.
“Offering a smoke-free environment will contribute positively to the health and well-being of all UC students, faculty, staff and our patients and visitors,” Yudof stated in the letter.
Sabrina Partridge, a first-year economics student, said she supported the idea. “I hate secondhand smoke,” she said.
The ban will go in effect after two years. The university wants to help students wean themselves off of smoking in the period before it takes effect, rather than expecting students and faculty to immediately follow the rule.
Some students who like to smoke on campus were angered by the announcement. Trenton Szewczyk, a fourth-year art student, stood outside Powell Library on Thursday with a cigarette in hand.
“I understand why (the university) would want to have a ban on smoking,” he said. “But I don’t like it. It’s a huge inconvenience.”
Szewczyk said smoking helps him relieve stress, and the UC system should not regulate student lifestyles ““ regardless of the potential health benefits.
Other students also said they don’t see the ban succeeding in practice, despite the good intentions of the upcoming ban.
“(It’s) like making a law to ban people from talking on their cell phones,” said Justin Wong, a third-year aerospace engineering student. “One benefit might be getting less people to smoke, but I don’t think it will have that much of a positive impact.”
University owned and leased facilities will all fall under the regulations of the ban, according to Yudof’s letter. The UCLA Health System imposed a similar smoking ban on its facilities in November 2011.
With contributing reports by Olivia Hitchcock and Naheed Rajwani, Bruin senior staff.