Stanford University in California is trying to phase out the sales of cigarettes, chewing tobacco and e-cigarettes, the Associated Press reported.

The private research institution has asked campus vendors to stop selling tobacco products on campus beginning March 1. Vendors who operate convenience stores near the university have also agreed to the university's request.

"The university is an advocate for the health and well-being of its entire community, and tobacco sales are inconsistent with our many programs that support healthy habits and behaviors," Susan Weinstein, assistant vice president for business development, who oversees campus business vendors, said in a statement.

However, some advocates believe that Stanford's efforts to ban tobacco sales are long overdue.

Last year, Kelly Young-Wolff, professor of psychiatry at the university, started a grassroots initiative to raise awareness about smoking and tobacco-use on campus.

Phillip Pizzo, who led the university's School of Medicine in going smoke-free in 2007 when he was a dean, said he would like to see Stanford "be a completely smoke-free campus."

The Stanford School of Medicine has been a smoke-free zone, including all of its outdoor spaces, since 2007, the AP reported.

"Health is clearly the purpose and mission of [Stanford School of Medicine] and the medical center," Pizzo told The Stanford Daily, the school's official newspaper. "There was an acknowledgement by the University leadership that by becoming smoke free, we were doing things consistent with our mission. The rest of the University is around the University and research but not health other than through the BeWell program."

The campus administration has been considering the elimination of tobacco sales on campus for some months, Weinstein said.

The university already has a Smoke-Free Environment Policy, update in 2011, which prohibits smoking in all classrooms, offices, enclosed buildings and facilities. It permits outdoor smoking, except during organized outdoor or athletic events. Outdoor smoking is limited to areas more than 30 feet from buildings.