SAN JOSE — When students returned to classes last week, San Jose State students were greeted by baby blue banners and posters advertising the campus’s new smoking ban rather than throngs of students and teachers puffing away.

Effective Aug. 1, all tobacco products and e-cigarettes were banned at SJSU following years of efforts to gauge student opinions of on-campus tobacco use and come up with a comprehensive smoking policy.

“The biggest change for me is that I now have the confidence to approach someone who is smoking and let them know about the policy,” said Bradyn Miller, an SJSU graduate student studying public administration. The issue of secondhand smoke in public places is personal to Miller because her father, a nonsmoker, has developed lung cancer.

The e-cigarette ban is having the greatest impact on SJSU students. Last year, e-cig use skyrocketed in popularity among the student body, and it was common to see students blowing huge plumes of flavored smoke in and around campus. These devices work by heating a liquid containing nicotine and other chemicals inside, producing a vapor.

E-cigarettes “are becoming a whole lot more popular, and there is a pretty common misconception that they are healthier,” said Mykel Jeffrey, a senior majoring in political science. “A lot of people think it’s cool to walk around with them, but in reality they are putting chemicals into the air that could be hurting other people.”

Although smoking was banned on all University of California campuses in 2014, a small fraction of California State University campuses have prohibited tobacco products. Cal State Fullerton and San Diego State implemented bans in 2013 and 2014, respectively, and Sacramento State is also planning on going smoke-free when the school year kicks off on Aug. 31.

In 2013, CSU Chancellor Timothy White proclaimed that he wanted to start the process of making all 23 CSU campuses go smoke-free, but the issue fell by the wayside, leaving individual CSUs responsible for setting their own tobacco policies.

Senior Vasuki Rao, a journalism major who smokes traditional cigarettes, said she isn’t concerned about not being able to light up on campus, since she can walk across the street to smoke, as many other smokers have done since the ban was implemented.

Unlike college campuses like UC Santa Cruz that are located in more isolated areas, SJSU is right in the middle of downtown San Jose. That makes it easy for students to walk off campus to smoke.

“They could’ve come up with a designated smoking area,” lamented Rao. “People are going to find alternative ways to smoke; they aren’t actually addressing the root of the problem.”

SJSU’s Alcohol Drug Abuse Prevention Committee, which helped design the campus smoking policy in the 2012-13 school year, considered establishing designated smoking areas on campus rather than banning smoking outright, said Jeffrey, who served on the committee. But the plan was nixed when the committee raised concerns that students would continue to smoke elsewhere on campus.

“Faculty and staff are a little more polite when they smoke on campus,” Jeffrey said. “They tend to hide behind a tree or go between buildings, but when it comes to students, they are very social when it comes to smoking. They don’t mind doing it out in the open.”

The ban was more than a decade in the making.

In 2002, former CSU Chancellor Charles Reed gave individual CSU campuses permission to establish their own smoking policies.

In 2013, 10 percent of San Jose State’s student body participated in an online referendum conducted by Associated Students, SJSU’s student government, which asked students if they supported a campuswide smoking ban. About 80 percent of respondents said they supported the ban, which encouraged administrators to begin crafting one. Former university President Mohammad Qayoumi then approved the tobacco-free policy last November.

“It’s a big milestone for our university,” said LooLoo Amante, president of Associated Students.

Rao said that when smoking was permitted, students tended to light up near the dorms. And while doing research for a Spartan Daily article about vaping on campus last year, journalism major Rigoberto Gomes noticed that smokers also tended to congregate next to the library and the Boccardo Business Complex. So far, he hasn’t noticed anyone sneaking a smoke on campus, but Rao and Jeffrey say they’ve spotted a few scofflaws.

The campus tobacco policy says that individuals caught smoking on campus will be issued fines of up to $100. But smokers don’t have to worry about evading campus law enforcement this semester, since the campus police are only issuing warnings to offenders.

“Citations will not begin until January at the earliest,” said Pat Harris, an SJSU spokeswoman. “This was intentionally put in place so that we could continue to raise awareness, collect feedback and respond.”

Contact Sophie Mattson at 408-920-5764. Follow her at Twitter.com/mattsonsophie.