Starting next summer, smokers won't be allowed to light up anywhere on Illinois' public colleges and universities. Over the weekend, Governor Pat Quinn signed the Smoke Free Campus Act. The law prohibits the practice in both indoor and outdoor spaces on state-supported campuses. The ban goes into effect July First of next year.
Some schools already have bans in place. Those include Aurora University, Waubonsee Community College and McHenry County College. But the governor's office says all institutions should be healthy, productive places of learning that encourage healthier lifestyles. The law directs each institution to establish a task force by the end of the year to coordinate the implementation of the act.
Current bans
According to the governor's office, , the following universities and colleges in Illinois are smoke-free: Aurora University, Blessing-Rieman College of Nursing, City Colleges of Chicago (7 colleges), College of DuPage, Danville Area Community College, Greenville College, Hannibal LaGrange University, McHenry County College, Olivet Nazarene University, Rush University, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, University of Illinois at Chicago, Waubonsee Community College and Wheaton College.
Additionally, there are current efforts to establish such bans at Southern Illinois University and Illinois State University.
The other state-supported schools that would be mandated to become smoke-free include: Chicago State University, Eastern Illinois University, Governors State University, Western Illinois University, Northern Illinois University, Northeastern Illinois University and any community college subject to the Public Community College Act.
Other states with colleges and universities that have 100 percent smoke-free policies include: California, Florida, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and Wisconsin.