The South Dakota State University campus will become smoke-free by the beginning of 2018, according to President Barry Dunn, in an Oct. 17 email to the student body.

The policy includes cigarettes, chewing tobacco and E-cigarettes.

A draft policy to establish SDSU as a smoke and tobacco-free campus circulated through student and faculty representative bodies in 2016. The Students’ Association voted in favor of a smoke-free campus in early 2016, but rejected a complete tobacco-free campus. President Dunn requested input in a 30-day comment period through September from the campus community.

“Based on the comments received in our office and the documents submitted by the SDSU Health Coalition, there is overwhelming support for SDSU to become a smoke and tobacco free campus,” Dunn wrote in the email.

Dunn handed off the final draft to the Office of General Counsel to adopt the policy.

The change is a step to make SDSU policy more “in line with today’s expectations,” according to Dunn. SDSU was previously the only South Dakota Board of Regents institution without some kind of smoke-free or tobacco-free policy.