Tobacco and nicotine product use will be banned on Washington State University’s Pullman campus starting fall 2016.

The student referendum for the ban took place spring 2014, and was passed in a meeting of the Board of Regents last Friday.

The reason it took more than a year after the referendum to vote and pass the ban was because the university wanted to be sure to take concerns from various constituents, including undergraduate students, graduate students, faculty and staff before passing anything, WSU Student Regent Jansen VanderMeulen said.

Under the ban, smokers and nicotine product users will have to leave campus to use tobacco or nicotine products. That means no smoking in university owned buildings, parking lots, sidewalks, or walkways such as the Terrell Mall – a hotspot area for smokers.

WSU assigned a task force to research the ban. Gene Patterson, WSU Manager of Public Health and Air and Water Quality, and Dwight Hagihara, WSU Executive Director of Health and Safety, were members of that team. Hagihara led the task force.

They gathered information from various universities across the nation, including other Pac-12 schools, which had implemented tobacco and nicotine product-free campuses. They studied what students voted for in the referendum and surveyed graduate students and professionals to see how people felt about getting rid of tobacco and nicotine use on college campuses.

Some pros of banning tobacco use on campus are that it promotes clean air and a healthy environment. For people with disabilities in which smoke bothers them, this could be a hindrance and a health hazard, Hagihara said.

“The purpose of this ban is to try and get people to stop smoking on campus and, hopefully, stop smoking completely. Eighteen to 22 years of age is a critical time period for students to try and stop smoking, as it is even harder to quit after turning 26 years old,” Hagihara said.

Some cons are that the people who use tobacco might say that banning tobacco use on campus isn’t fair. Many might not want to use their 10 minute break between classed to run off campus and find a place to smoke before their next class, ASWSU Chief of Staff Hayley Hohman said.

“One of the key points that will be considered is the accessibility to get off of campus for faculty or staff that smoke or use nicotine products,” Hohman said.

In regards to how this ban will be enforced, WSU Chief of Police Bill Gardner said the ban is more of a public safety matter than a police matter, as the tobacco ban falls under civil law.

While the police will not be cruising around campus looking for people who are trying to sneak a quick puff, they will be available for incidents that get to the point where police intervention is necessary. The WSU Police Department will then work with groups like Student Affairs to handle those situations.

“The WSU police station will work as a central repository for resources and a place to call when you are having a specific issue or concern,” Gardner said.

*This article has been updated for accuracy