Students will be stamping out their butts next fall if they live in the residence halls.

Next year, all the residence halls will be smoke-free, said Michael Coakley, executive director of Student Housing and Dining Services.

As of now, the option to smoke on designated floors still is available, however that won’t be the case next year, Coakley said.

“About 50 percent of our floors are smoke-free now,” Coakley said. “The other 50 percent can smoke if the roommate agrees to it.”

Bob Albanese, associate vice president of Finance and Facilities, said the university also is working on a policy pertaining to smoking outdoors for fall 2003.

Coakley said one aspect being considered is whether smoking should be pushed farther away from the entrances of residence halls and buildings.

“What we are trying to do for next year is create some areas outside that would be attractive to smokers,” he said. “[Hence moving] them away from the front door of the residence halls.”

Albanese added that outside, designated smoking bus shelters are being looked into as protection from the elements for a smoker during the winter months.

However, students may not be too keen on having to move away from the building in order to light up.

“[If the policy states] 20 feet from the building and somebody is smoking within 10 feet, who’s going to enforce it?” Albanese said.

John Banzhaf, executive director of Action on Smoking and Health in Washington, said non-smoking campuses increasingly are becoming common.

Student and faculty rights are always a priority, though, Banzhaf said.

“[We need to consider] what we can do to make the campus smoke-free to a higher level, but to respect the rights of the smoker,” Albanese said.