Dear Campus Community,

Last fall, I announced that the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign would become 100 percent smoke and tobacco-free in August 2019. I am writing to remind you that this new policy is now currently in place. The new effort builds upon the smoke-free policy that was successfully implemented in 2014, banning the use of all smoke-producing tobacco products on campus. The new smoke-and-tobacco free policy applies to everyone – students, faculty, staff, students and visitors.

It includes all forms of tobacco, including but not limited to chewing tobacco, snuff, snus and dissolvable forms such as orbs and strips. Vaping devices such as e-cigarettes and juuls are still prohibited. The banned locations include all campus-owned property (PDF) – indoors and outdoors – as well as private vehicles parked on campus-owned property. 

Since Governor J.B. Pritzker signed the law legalizing recreational marijuana beginning Jan. 1, we have received many questions about the use of marijuana at our university. The use or possession of marijuana will still be prohibited on campus when the law goes into effect. These university marijuana policies comply with federal law, including the Drug-Free Workplace Act of 1988 and the Drug-Free Schools and Communities Act Amendments of 1989.

For more information about the smoke-and-tobacco free policy, please see the Campus Administrative Manual and visit the Smoke and Tobacco Free website. 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 Campus Wellbeing Services.

I ask everyone to respect our new policy to create a healthy environment for our entire university community.

Sincerely,

Robert J. Jones
Chancellor