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A new sign outside the Whitmore Administration building at UMass announces the campus is now smoke-free.

(Diane Lederman / The Republican)

AMHERST – The bins for cigarette butts outside buildings at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst are gone, and signs are up at the campus gateways announcing the new era – the university is tobacco free.

Day 1 Monday seemed to be going as anticipated, with people abiding by the new ban, said spokesman Daniel J. Fitzgibbons.

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"We've been doing this push for several months. We think people have gotten the message," he said. Stickers are posted on building doors, signs on light posts announce the campus's smoke-free status.

The Faculty Senate approved the senate's Health Council recommendation in April 2011 to ban smoking on campus.

More than 1,100 campuses have already enacted a smoke-free policy, according to the Americans for Nonsmokers' Rights website. Among them is Holyoke Community College, which became smoke-free last August.

In the past several months as the deadline approached, UMass has held forums to help smokers quit or develop strategies to cope with the policy in other ways.

The campus is home to more than 30,000 students, faculty and staff and can host 1,000 to 10,000 visitors on any given day.

Smoking is banned throughout campus and in vehicles as well. Enforcement currently is the honor system.

“At this point we’re trying to ease into the ban to see how it goes,” Fitzgibbons said.

The holiday week is relatively quiet with many people away, he said.

Until Monday, it was common to see people congregating with cigarettes around buildings such as the Whitmore Administration building.

While smoking was banned inside all buildings in the 1990s, people until Monday were allowed to smoke outside but were supposed to be at least 20 feet from any building.

Microbiology professor Wilmore Webley, who was helping implement the tobacco-free policy, said earlier, "This policy is to protect non-smokers on campus. The policy doesn't say you have to quit."

The university has announced no plans to fine violators. "We really want educational outreach to the community. Give the UMass community (time) to voluntarily comply," he said.