An increasing number of colleges -- the University of Miami's medical campus and University of Florida among them -- are pushing to be smoke-free by next school year.

That means no more cigarette breaks outside the classroom door for students or professors.

The American Nonsmokers' Rights Foundation reports nearly 60 college campuses around the United States have smoke-free policies that affect the entire campus. Other schools have instituted restrictions, banning smoking in certain ``breathe-easy'' zones.

In Florida, all colleges and universities forbid smoking inside public buildings, following the Florida Clean Indoor Air Act of 1985 and subsequent laws passed in 2003. Some provide smoking areas for staff on breaks outside of entranceways, but others have limited such areas to 50 feet or more from doorways.

``The university and Jackson Memorial Hospital have been talking about going totally smoke-free on campus for about six or eight months,'' said Dr. Richard Thurer, professor of surgery at the University of Miami's Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine.

INCREASING CONTROL

Early in 2010, ``there will be no smoking whatsoever on campus or in parking garages, and vendors doing business will not be allowed to smoke, too,'' Thurer said.

The smoke-free movement comes at a time when the American Cancer Society Action Network reports that the prevalence of smoking in the United States is highest among college-age students, ages 18 to 24. While other age groups are decreasing their tobacco use, the cancer society says college students are smoking at a greater rate.

UM will be offering programs to help smokers quit the habit, Thurer said.

``We need to gear those programs up to accept the influx of people when we go smoke-free,'' he said.

UM's medical campus transformation is in step with other colleges that have recently instituted smoking bans, including Athens Technical College in Georgia and the University of Arkansas.

The University of Kentucky -- in a state with the highest smoking rate in the nation -- will go tobacco-free on Nov. 19. And that means no snuff, too.

Snuff -- pulverized tobacco inhaled through the nose -- also is banned at the University of Florida.

UF's athletic stadium, health science and Shands Hospital banned smoking and snuff as of Nov. 1, said UF spokesman Steve Orlando. Smoking will be banned on the entire campus starting July 1, 2010.

DIFFERENT APPROACH

Florida Atlantic University is taking a gentler approach by limiting designated smoking areas starting in January, said Rosemary Dunbar, director of Today and Beyond Wellness Center at the FAU campus in Boca Raton.

``We want to introduce designated areas around campus adjacent to each significant building so people who want to smoke would go to those areas pretty far away from any entry or any kind of air duct,'' Dunbar said.

Florida State University has a smoke-free zone and designated smoking areas at least 50 feet from buildings, but the school aims to eventually eliminate the habit from campus, said Tom Jackson, director of environmental health and safety.

Some South Florida schools -- Miami Dade College, Barry University, Broward College and St. Thomas University -- have no plans to ban smoking, preferring to keep their designated areas for now.

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