UAF campus prepares to go smoke free
March 4, 2015
Fresh Air Committee Chairs
President Pat Gamble and the University of Alaska Board of Regents took a strong and powerful step towards a healthier campus community when they adopted the Tobacco Free Campus regulation in December of last year. The basics of the policy are as follows:
- Tobacco product use is prohibited in all buildings, grounds, trails, parking garages, parking lots (except personally-owned vehicles not parked in parking garage), university-owned streets and sidewalks, and spaces leased or owned by the university.
- Applies to all employees, students, visitors, volunteers, contractors and vendors.
- Tobacco products include, but are not limited to, cigarettes, cigars, pipes, kreteks, bidis, and other inhalable burning substances, and all smokeless tobacco and tobacco-containing products.
UAF has opted to phase in this new regulation over the course of this calendar year, which means it will go into effect on Dec. 31, 2015, but we’d like to remind the campus community that smoking within 50 feet of any of university building entrances is currently prohibited.
Whenever possible, concerns about tobacco use should be respectfully and courteously addressed. All employees are encouraged to help by communicating the policy in a positive manner. We’ll be providing additional information about compliance as we get closer to the effective date.
The purpose of the policy is not to single out those who use tobacco, but to create a healthier campus community for all employees, students and visitors to campus. Over the next few months we’ll provide education and tips to help people who want to quit. No one has to quit, although quitting is encouraged.
This regulation is intended to make campus healthier for everyone.
If you’d like information to help you kick the tobacco habit, please visit www.alaska.edu/benefits/tobacco-use/.
Read through the full regulation (pdf) and the FAQs (pdf).