Skip to main content
  • Home
  • About
  • Faculty Experts
  • For The Media
  • ’Cuse Conversations Podcast
  • Topics
    • Alumni
    • Events
    • Faculty
    • Students
    • All Topics
  • Contact
  • Submit
Campus & Community
  • All News
  • Arts & Culture
  • Business & Economy
  • Campus & Community
  • Health & Society
  • Media, Law & Policy
  • STEM
  • Veterans
  • University Statements
  • Syracuse University Impact
  • |
  • The Peel
  • Athletics
Sections
  • All News
  • Arts & Culture
  • Business & Economy
  • Campus & Community
  • Health & Society
  • Media, Law & Policy
  • STEM
  • Veterans
  • University Statements
  • Syracuse University Impact
  • |
  • The Peel
  • Athletics
  • Home
  • About
  • Faculty Experts
  • For The Media
  • ’Cuse Conversations Podcast
  • Topics
    • Alumni
    • Events
    • Faculty
    • Students
    • All Topics
  • Contact
  • Submit
Campus & Community

Campus Becomes Smoke- and Tobacco-Free July 1

Tuesday, June 30, 2015, By Kevin Morrow
Share

Syracuse University officially becomes a smoke-free and tobacco-free campus on July 1 as a new institutional policy goes into effect promoting a healthy, productive and respectful environment.

smokefreeSmoking and the use of all tobacco products—including cigarettes, cigars, snuff, pipes, chewing tobacco and products that imitate the act of smoking, such as vapor cigarettes—will be prohibited on all property owned, leased or managed by Syracuse University, including outdoor spaces and University-owned vehicles.

The Carrier Dome, Sheraton Syracuse University Hotel and Conference Center, Drumlins and Syracuse Stage will remain smoke-free inside. Outside spaces at those venues will be exempt from this policy during events through July 2017. The phased exemption for the Carrier Dome will extend to event attendees in parking lots and in transit to and from the Dome. The policy will be explored for feasibility on Syracuse-affiliated campuses in international settings.

Cigarette butt receptacles are being removed from University spaces on July 1, and informational signage about SU’s status as a tobacco- and smoke-free campus has begun appearing in buildings and public spaces.

As of this past January, the University began offering free, six-week smoking cessation programs on campus for students, faculty and staff who desire to quit smoking or refrain from other tobacco use. Each program—consisting of seven one-hour classes in a six-week timeframe—is facilitated by Cynthia Cary, director of smoking cessation at SUNY Upstate Medical University.

According to the most recent data from the American Nonsmokers’ Rights Foundation, as of April 2, 1,543 U.S. and tribal colleges and universities had gone smoke-free, while 1,043 were fully tobacco-free.

The concept of a tobacco-free campus has been a topic of consideration among groups of students, faculty and staff for more than a decade. A campus wellness survey conducted in 2010 showed that 58 percent of students and 71 percent of faculty and staff supported policies to limit tobacco use.

Signs have been posted around campus indicating the University's new status.

Signs have been posted around campus indicating the University’s new status.

The effort for SU to become smoke- and tobacco-free began in earnest in January 2008 with the formation of the Syracuse University Campus Sustainability Task Force on Campus Smoking and its detailed report on the topic to the University Senate. Many additional steps in the process followed, including the formation in 2010 of a Wellness Task Force charged with developing a strategic plan to identify and recommend a series of wellness programs and/or pilots to promote, create and support a healthier campus community and to reduce long-term health care expenditures.

“Implementation of the tobacco- and smoke-free campus is the result of more than a decade of conversation, consideration and hard work by multiple dedicated task forces of students, faculty and staff,” says Gail Grozalis, executive director of the University Wellness Initiative. “This policy reflects the ongoing investment the University has in the health and wellness of its members by helping to ensure a healthy, productive, respectful environment in which to learn, live and work.”

Additional information—including an FAQ and communications toolkits to help supervisors, employees and students communicate and engage in conversation about the policy—is available in the Tobacco-Free Campus portion of the University’s Wellness website.

  • Author

Kevin Morrow

  • Recent
  • DPS Earns Accreditation From International Association of Campus Law Enforcement Administrators
    Friday, June 6, 2025, By Kiana Racha
  • Rock Record Illuminates Oxygen History
    Thursday, June 5, 2025, By Dan Bernardi
  • What Can Ancient Climate Tell Us About Modern Droughts?
    Thursday, June 5, 2025, By News Staff
  • Blackstone LaunchPad Founders Circle Welcomes New Members
    Thursday, June 5, 2025, By Cristina Hatem
  • Syracuse Stage Concludes 2024-25 Season With ‘The National Pastime’
    Wednesday, June 4, 2025, By Joanna Penalva

More In Campus & Community

DPS Earns Accreditation From International Association of Campus Law Enforcement Administrators

The Department of Public Safety (DPS) is thrilled to announce that it has achieved accreditation from the International Association of Campus Law Enforcement Administrators (IACLEA), the leading authority for campus public safety. Fewer than 100 agencies have earned this distinctive…

Blackstone LaunchPad Founders Circle Welcomes New Members

Syracuse University Libraries’ Blackstone LaunchPad welcomed 34 graduates of the Class of 2025 as new members of the Founders Circle. They were selected in recognition of launching or leading ventures at the University while students, as well as contributing to…

Neal Powless Inducted Into American Indian Athletic Hall of Fame

You could say that lacrosse is in Neal Powless’s blood. Powless G’08, the University ombuds, is a member of the Onondaga Nation Eel Clan. He is the son, grandson and brother of legendary lacrosse players. Powless picked up a lacrosse…

The Milton Legacy: Romance, Success and Giving Back

Growing up, Stacey Milton Leal ’75 and Chris Milton heard countless stories about how Syracuse University brought their parents together in what would turn out to be a fairy tale romance with a happy forever ending. So it was no…

Syracuse University Libraries’ Information Literacy Scholars Produce Information Literacy Collab Journal

Earlier this month, Syracuse University Libraries’ Information Literacy Scholars published their first open access information literacy journal, Information Literacy Collab (ILC). It is available on SURFACE, the University’s open access institutional repository. ILC is a diamond open-access publication by and…

Subscribe to SU Today

If you need help with your subscription, contact sunews@syr.edu.

Connect With Us

  • X
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Youtube
  • LinkedIn
Social Media Directory

For the Media

Find an Expert Follow @SyracuseUNews
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Youtube
  • LinkedIn
  • @SyracuseU
  • @SyracuseUNews
  • Social Media Directory
  • Accessibility
  • Privacy
  • Campus Status
  • Syracuse.edu
© 2025 Syracuse University News. All Rights Reserved.