Today marks the beginning of Georgia Southern University’s tobacco ban policy in compliance with the University System of Georgia Board of Regents tobacco ban for all USG universities.

The official ban date set by the USG is October 1.

Key points of the tobacco ban:

• Tobacco products include cigars, cigarettes, pipes, hookahs, all forms of smokeless tobacco, clove cigarettes and smoking devices such as vaporizers or electronic cigarettes
• The ban applies to anyone on GSU’s campus or owned property, including students, visitors, contractors, spectators, faculty and staff
• All ash urns on campus have been replaced with tobacco-free signs
• The ban also prohibits tobacco use in cars, private or public, while on campus property
• Any event hosted or held on behalf of the USG will be tobacco-free

GSU issued the following statement regarding enforcement of the policy:

“As a higher institute of education, bringing awareness to personnel on the importance of having a tobacco-free environment will play a major role in enforcing this policy. In addition, the University will bring awareness through signage, electronic messaging, events and other marketing. Lastly, it is the responsibility of everyone at Georgia Southern to kindly inform others of the Tobacco-Free campus policy and ask that they stop using tobacco products on campus.” 

Students can file an incident report or use this statement as suggested by GSU on the tobacco-free campus site:

“Hi, I just wanted to make you aware that Georgia Southern is a tobacco-free campus. All types of tobacco products are prohibited on campus. We would appreciate if you abide by our policy and not use tobacco products while here. Thank you for your cooperation.”

Join the discussion and share your opinion about the tobacco ban on The George-Anne Facebook page.