Dear Colleagues:

In order to promote a healthy living, learning, and working environment, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign will become smoke-free beginning January 1, 2014. The new policy will apply to everyone – students, faculty, staff and visitors. It will include all forms of burning tobacco, including cigarettes, cigars, pipes, hookahs, cigarillos. It will ban smoking on all campus-owned property – indoors and outdoors, as well as the use of e-cigarettes on campus-owned property and smoking in private vehicles parked on campus-owned property.

To help faculty, staff and students adapt to the new policy, the campus will continue offering a variety of tobacco-cessation programs through McKinley Health Center and the UI Wellness Center. In addition, nicotine-replacement products will be sold at many campus locations, including the Illini Union, State Farm Center, the Activities and Recreation Center, Campus Recreation East, the Ice Arena and some residence facilities after January 1.

On Thursday (November 21), the campus will observe the Great American Smoke-Out. Four smoke-free stations will be located across campus. Faculty, staff and students can pick up quit kits, talk with cessation experts, and learn about the smoke-free policy. For more information about this and other smoke-free resources, visit http://go.illinois.edu/smokefree.

The campus is implementing its smoke-free policy to protect the campus community from the harmful effects of secondhand smoke. Secondhand smoke has been determined unsafe at any level. In addition to the long-term effects of secondhand smoke exposure, many nonsmokers exposed to outdoor tobacco smoke suffer immediate symptoms such as breathing difficulties, eye irritation, headaches and nausea.

I ask everyone to respect our new policy to create a healthful environment for all members of our community.

Sincerely,

Phyllis M. Wise
Chancellor

   
     
   
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