Tobacco-Free Since 2014

For a Cleaner, Healthier Campus

EKU has been tobacco-free, vape-free, and healthier for over two years!  In an effort to improve the health and safety of students, employees and campus visitors, on June 1, 2014 Eastern Kentucky University joined the over 1,343 college and university campuses who have successfully gone smoke free. 

Eastern Kentucky University's Tobacco-Free Policy

The dangers of tobacco are well known. There are tremendous health risks and economic costs for a campus that permits tobacco use. The adverse effects of secondhand smoke exposure are immediate and can lead to premature death, heart disease and lung cancer, even among nonsmokers. In the United States, nearly 50,000 deaths occur each year due to secondhand smoke. According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC), there is NO risk-free level of exposure to secondhand smoke.

Everyone deserves the right to breathe clean air and protect their health while studying, living, and working at Eastern. Eliminating tobacco use will also keep our campus beautiful.

Tobacco-Free Campus Announcement (PDF)

“With the support of  the great majority of our faculty, staff, students, and governing board, and supported by the results of the  April 2012 tobacco-free campus survey, I am happy to announce that EKU is joining hundreds of other campuses across America and many within the Commonwealth by going to a 100 percent tobacco-free campus, effective June 1, 2014.”

~ EKU President Michael T. Benson