The University of California will ban tobacco use on all 10 campuses by 2014, UC President Mark G. Yudof announced in a letter to the chancellors on Jan. 9. The new policy, which each committee is responsible for creating, would also ban the sale and promotion of tobacco products on campus.

Colleen Stevens, chief of the tobacco control branch at the California Department of Public Health, emphasized the extent of the UC system’s efforts in a Jan. 12 article of the Mercury News.

“People have been actively working on this for 10 years,” Stevens said in the article. “The UC system has been very vocal about protecting people from secondhand smoke.”

According to a Jan. 12 article on ABC 7’s website, only 8 percent of UC students smoke, while 10 percent of faculty and staff smoke.

Currently, UC campuses already ban smoking within 20 feet of buildings, while UC San Francisco has banned smoking entirely since 2008. UCSD’s current smoking policy, first implemented in September 2009, states that smoking is banned within 25 feet of all buildings. Last year, the UCSD Health Sciences campus located in Hillcrest enacted a smoking ban on a trial period.

Yudof’s new policy would create a blanket ban that includes all outdoor areas, including RIMAC Field. According to the announcement, the ban will be slowly implemented to allow smokers to adjust to the ban. The ban will affect all students, faculty and staff.

According to a March 3, 2011 Guardian article titled “Students Discuss Changes to Campus Smoking Policy,” the American College Health Association surveyed over 500 UCSD students in Spring Quarter 2010; the survey concluded that about 67 percent of students were in favor of a revised smoking policy.

In February 2011, A.S. Council passed suggesting that smoking be limited to outdoor parking lots.

Assistant Vice Chancellor of Student Wellness Karen Calfas could not be reached for comment as of press time.