The University of Iowa recently announced that its entire campus would be smoke free by 2009.

“We’ve had some discussion about this for a long time,” said Steve Parrott, director of university relations at Iowa. “This goes with the general consensus of opinion.”

The university’s plan involves ensuring that all students, faculty and staff have access to smoking cessation programs either for free, or for very little, he said. In addition, employees get up to $300 in reimbursement for nicotine replacement or prescription drugs to help them quit smoking, according to an Iowa news release.

“This is a big effort on the university’s part, and we want to emphasize that this will take some time,” Parrott said. “We’re not putting up cameras on campus to catch smokers, but we are letting everyone know. This will help promote civility and respect for others.”