The New York Legislature has approved a bill to ban smoking in all college dormitories, including those at private institutions, the Associated Press reported. The bill, which Gov. David A. Paterson has not yet signed into law, would take effect in August.
The ban would not change anything on many campuses, though. The State University of New York has banned smoking in dorms on its campuses since last summer. And many private institutions — including Cornell, Hofstra, New York, and Syracuse Universities — also already prohibit smoking in residence halls.
While legislative bans on smoking in dormitories are relatively rare, at least three other states — Illinois, New Jersey, and Wisconsin — have enacted such measures, according to Americans for Nonsmokers’ Rights. The group’s foundation lists on its Web site several hundred American colleges and universities that have adopted smokefree policies in residence halls, and more than 100 that ban smoking on all or most of their campuses, indoors and out. —Charles Huckabee
