The University has already begun planning the implementation of new smoking restrictions on campus, according to Kevin MacNaughton, associate vice chancellor for facilities.

According to the campus-wide e-mail from Chancellor James Oblinger, the restrictions on tobacco use will be effective Jan. 1.

But to meet that date, administrators from each college must establish specified smoking boundaries around their buildings and submit them to Facilities, Lynn Burris, executive assistant of the associate vice chancellor for facilities, said.

According to the smoking regulation policy for University Facilities, the appropriate dean or vice chancellor is responsible for designating an outdoor space as an authorized smoking location, which must be at least 25 feet from a building’s public entrances and air intakes.

Facilities is then in charge of indicating those approved areas and providing appropriate receptacles for smoking waste.

MacNaughton said Facilities has a plan in effect for administrators to make requests for smoking areas.

“We are coordinating this with the different building deans and vice chancellors that have responsibility for their buildings through the building liaison program,” MacNaughton said. “We are also assisting technically to make sure they know where the air intakes are on the buildings.”

According to MacNaughton, several deans have already made requests for facilities through their work center.

Marvin Malecha, dean of the College of Design, said he has plans to meet with associate deans and assistant deans in the following weeks to designate the areas.

“The best thing to do is to just go for a walk and decide on the areas that fall in the zones, especially since we have five different buildings that come under our watch, we just have to make sure we meet the regulations,” Malecha said.

Malecha also said he plans to notify smokers of spaces that are currently designated for smoking but will become smoke-free once the regulation comes into effect.

Justin Long, a freshman in computer engineering, said students were glad to see that the new policy will be underway soon.

“I think they should have done this a long time ago,” Long said. “This will now provide smokers a place where people who don’t smoke won’t have to smell it all the time.”

Lee Spencer, a freshman in business management, said he has little opinion on the new policy.

“I don’t come across smokers that often on campus, so I don’t really care when they start designating the areas,” Spencer said.

As the deans and vice chancellors are beginning to decide on the smoking boundaries around University buildings, Facilities has also begun creating the signs to indicate where smoking is prohibited.

“We have a plan to go ahead and fabricate the signs here, and place them and the appropriate urns where the deans have decided, as the regulation goes into effect the first of the year,” MacNaughton said. “Hopefully this will go fairly smoothly.”