Tobacco ban takes effect this week at University of Oklahoma

This year, she hopes that won't be the case.

A new tobacco ban went into effect Sunday at OU. The policy bars anyone from smoking or using any other tobacco products anywhere on campus, including at athletic events.

Swiglo, a senior, had heard the policy discussed as a possibility for a few years, but until recently she wasn't convinced anything would ever be done. When she heard this year that a policy would be enacted, she was pleased.

“I'm allergic to smoke, so I was pretty excited,” she said.

Swiglo said she hasn't seen any kind of impact since the ban took effect, mostly because the campus is relatively empty now. But when students begin to come back for the fall semester, she said, she hopes the new policy will mean she'll no longer see throngs of smokers crowded around the entrances to campus buildings.

The ban is the result of an executive order signed by Gov. Mary Fallin. During her State of the State address, Fallin announced she had signed an order placing a ban on tobacco use on all state-owned and state-leased property, including all public colleges and universities. That order took effect Sunday.

Fallin blamed tobacco use as one of several factors that contributed to Oklahoma's poor performance in national health rankings.