In the spring of 2008, the student-led Student Health Advisory Board proposed that OSU adopt a campus-wide smoke-free policy in order to reduce second-hand smoke exposure – a Class A carcinogen. A task force of faculty, staff and student representatives was appointed by the OSU Vice Provost for Student Affairs to further examine the proposal.
Over the following two years, the task force gathered feedback from departments, organizations and individuals on the OSU Corvallis campus, as well as other campuses and organizations that had a smoke-free or tobacco-free policy. Based on this research, the task force recommended to the OSU administration that the Corvallis campus adopt a policy that limits the use of tobacco on campus.
In February 2011, President Ed Ray officially announced that OSU’s Corvallis campus would become smoke-free effective September 2012.