Schools
Stony Brook University Axes Tobacco-Free Initiative – For Now
A law that would have banned tobacco use on SUNY campuses did not pass the state legislature.
Stony Brook University officials have scrapped plans to ban the use of all tobacco products on its properties beginning in 2014 – at least until the state legislature takes action on a formal ban, according to a report published this week by campus newspaper The Statesman.
The ban was set to bring SBU into compliance with state legislation that would have outlawed the use of tobacco products on all SUNY campuses – legislation that failed to pass during the state legislature's most recent session – according to The Statesman. While the university announced plans last year to go tobacco-free in 2014, it will not move forward with it at this time.
“Concerns were raised that [a tobacco free policy] should be collectively bargained in the absence of legislative directive,” university spokesperson Lauren Sheprow told The Statesman. “Implementing a policy will follow legislation.”
A previous policy, adopted in 2009, banned smoking indoors and within 25 feet of buildings at Stony Brook.
Click here to read the full report from The Statesman.
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