Southeast Missouri State University’s Board of Regents voted to change the on-campus smoking and tobacco policy, making the campus smoke- and tobacco-free.

The ban, which includes all forms of tobacco and any devices that are also used to smoke non-tobacco products, will be enforced starting in the fall semester on Aug. 21.

The new policy will be enforced for both students as well as faculty and staff on campus, and will be primarily self-enforced by university employees.

“The policy is enforced by Southeast employees, can be peer-enforced so students could ask other students to not smoke,” Assistant Dean of Students Dr. L. Randy Carter said. “If a student is talked to several times, typically by the same person, then they could be referred into our office for discipline.”

Disciplinary action for students will be handled by the Office of Student Conduct, while Human Resources will handle situations involving faculty and staff. The extent of discipline will be determined on a case-by-case basis, depending on the severity and history of violations.

“Well kinda like everything else, if a person has habitual issues, whether it be alcohol or noncompliance, or something even more serious, then we look at the severity of the action,” Carter said. “I wouldn’t say it’s comparable to a parking ticket, because one parking ticket isn’t gonna get you in our office. If you have a dozen parking tickets then you’ll be in our office, so I’d say it’s more like 10 or so parking tickets.”

Since 2008, Southeast has had designated smoking areas for students, staff and faculty to use, which is often the first step toward becoming a smoke-free campus.

Along with the campus becoming smoke-free, the university will also be offering smoking cessation programs, to assist smokers trying to quit.

More information about those programs will be available as they are developed.

Southeast is following a trend of universities across the state, as 25 institutions in Missouri are already smoke-free.

“Most of the schools that have already moved to tobacco and smoke-free, which most have, I think that we were one of the last two or three that moved to that, have done this transition, moving to [designated smoking areas] then [smoke-free],” Carter said. “From here, we want to create a culture where we don’t have to remind them that the policy is in place. We want it to be automatic over the next one to three years, hopefully the culture will change so we won’t have people still pushing the limits on the policy.”

With universities being a place for development on all levels, Carter hopes this initiative helps improve the health of everyone at Southeast.

“I can only speak to that universities and colleges are educational institutions and we’re trying to educate people and hopefully develop them as individuals,” Carter said. “I think overall health is important, so we’re trying to stress those types of things as we move forward with the new policy.”