UCLA will adopt a tobacco-free policy starting April 22, 2013, which falls on Earth Day, Chancellor Gene Block announced in an email to students this morning.
The ban will apply to all tobacco products, including cigarettes, cigars, oral tobacco and electronic cigarettes from University-owned and leased property, Block stated in the email.
The UCLA Tobacco-Free Steering Committee recommended the ban, following a request from University of California President Mark Yudof earlier this year, which encouraged all UC campuses to implement a tobacco-free policy by January 2014.
UCLA is the first UC campus to announce an entirely tobacco-free policy and is among more than 800 other colleges and universities, according to Block’s statement.
The university also plans to offer resources for current smokers to help them transition to the campus-wide change. The campus plans to offer free nicotine starter kits, and peer support and counseling, according to the statement.
A draft of the new policy will be available for students, faculty and staff to review on Nov. 15, Block said in the email.
This is not the first step that UCLA has taken toward a tobacco-free campus. Starting earlier this quarter, all university-owned apartments instituted a smoke-free policy that banned smokers living in the apartments from smoking on the properties, the Daily Bruin reported in March.
The UCLA Health System also went smoke-free last year.
Compiled by Yancey Cashell, Bruin contributor.