April 02, 2019
Temple University will implement a tobacco ban on all campuses by the fall.
The policy, in development, will include smoking and vaping, the university announced Tuesday.
“The goal of the policy is to eliminate the use of all tobacco products in all indoor and outdoor spaces at each Temple campus in the United States,” Temple’s official release states.
This forthcoming mandate follows a report last year by Temple's Presidential Smoke-free Campus Task Force, which recommended a change to current tobacco policies. The task force, led by College of Public Health Dean Laura Siminoff and composed of students, faculty and staff, recommended that Temple should join the growing number of universities committed to establishing a healthier working, learning and living environment.
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In Philadelphia, both Drexel University and the University of Pennsylvania have standing tobacco-free campus policies.
The Temple policy plans to attack the issue of tobacco use from every angle, including smoking cessation programs to help students, faculty and staff break their nicotine addiction.
The goal is to have the policy in place by July 1, with full implementation taking place at the start of the fall 2019 semester.
View the task force’s full report here.
