Salem State to ban tobacco on campus

Salem State University will go tobacco-free next academic year, the North Shore school said, joining the ranks of about 260 colleges and universities throughout the country.

Based on recommendations from a committee made up of faculty, staff, and students, the university will extend its current policies prohibiting smoking in its buildings to the entire campus, according to a letter e-mailed to the Salem State community today. Chewing and smokeless tobacco products will also be included in the ban.

"The university has an opportunity to dramatically impact the health and welfare of the members of our community and guests by making a change in the currently accepted campus smoking practices," Stanley P. Cahill, Salem State's executive vice president, said in the message.

About 10,000 students attend Salem State, about 2,000 of whom live on campus. There are about 1,100 people who work there. Students and staff will be offered help to quit smoking before the new policy goes into effect on Sept. 1, 2011.

The committee was influenced by a survey of attitudes about smoking on campus, Cahill said. Among the approximately 1,200 who responded, more than a quarter said they were exposed to secondhand smoke several times a day and more than half of respondents said they were bothered by second-hand smoke on campus

According to smoking opponents such as Tobaccofreeu.org that track tobacco-free campuses, about 260 colleges and universities across the country have banned smoking. In Massachusetts, three community colleges -- Cape Cod, Mount Wachusett, and Bristol -- also prohibit tobacco from their buildings and grounds.