The University of Rochester is going tobacco-free as of July 2017. That word came Thursday from U of R President Joel Seligman who says all of the university's campuses and locations will become tobacco-free both inside and outside campus buildings.
That includes the River Campus, the Eastman School of Music, the Medical Center and all other university properties. The Medical Center has been smoke-free indoors and outdoors since 2006.
The U of R enacted its first smoking ban inside of campus buildings in 1993. The decision to go totally tobacco-free, including cigarettes, cigars, pipes and e-cigarettes, comes after a university working group examined the effects that the change would have on students, employees and visitors.
There will still be a few places, outdoors on the River Campus where smoking will be allowed after the ban goes into effect to help people with the transition.
As part of the change, free tobacco cessation programs and resources will be available to the university community.
Officials at the U of R say that as of spring 2016, there were just under 1,500 smoke-free campuses in the U.S. with more than two-thirds of those being fully tobacco-free.
