The university in Athens plans to outlaw the use of cigarettes and e-cigarettes on any part of the 1,850-acre public campus during the 2015-16 academic year.
If caught smoking, students could be made to attend a series of smoking cessation programs and classes to help them quit. It is the latest in a string of anti-smoking policies to be implemented at U.S. universities. Institutions to have enforced such bans so far include Ohio State University, San Diego State University and every public college in Georgia.
Officials said the ban at Ohio University will be enforced with a 'community, Good-Samaritan kind of model' across all parts of the campus. There will be no designated smoking zones.
Ryan Lombardi, vice president for student affairs, told The Athens News: 'You can't use tobacco on university property. On the grounds, in the buildings, on the sidewalk the university owns.'
But he added: 'We can't control anything that happens outside of the university grounds.'
Students who repeatedly refuse to abide by the ban will be sent to the taxpayer-funded university's Office of Community Stands to 'talk to somebody'.
Those who wish to quit smoking will be offered health-insurance-covered smoking cessation classes, said Mr Lombardi. But those who continue flouting the campus ban could also be forced to attend the classes.
'You don't need to threaten people with fines, said Mr Lombardi. 'I get it, I don't want to dismiss that argument as a valid argument, but it also feels like a middle school or high school approach.'
However, he said he did not wish for the campus to 'become a police state', and that students who refuse to be re-educated would not be expelled. Earlier this month, Athens City Council spokesman Steve Patterson expressed concern about the university's new anti-smoking policy.
He said he feared it would increase the number of cigarette butts left lying on the city's sidewalks, saying: 'It's going to drive anybody who chooses to smoke cigarettes out onto the public right-of-way.'
As the U.S. Government has not implemented a nationwide federal smoking ban, anti-smoking policies differ between states. Under current Ohio law, smoking is banned in workplaces and other enclosed public places.
Ohio University is currently working on a number of initiatives to inform students about the new anti-smoking policy.
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