The official date for banning tobacco across UK’s campus is nine months away but figuring out how the plan will be implemented has begun.

On Monday, UK announced the members of the Tobacco-Free Initiative along with a Nov. 19 target date for officially having the plan in place.

How the ban will be enforced — including how smokers will be punished and whether ashtrays will be removed — will develop over the next few months through subcommittees within the Tobacco-Free Initiative Task Force, said Jimmy Stanton, UK spokesman.

Saul Wright, a history senior, said the policy would be hard to enforce and suggested a way to avoid being caught smoking on campus.

“I probably would still go (smoke) somewhere down in the trees if I really wanted to,” Wright said.

Stanton also said the smoking ban on the UK Medical Center has been a success and will be used as a model for the rest of the campus.

Associate Vice President for Health Affairs Murray Clark said in the few encounters he has had with patients and visitors smoking on hospital property, he has simply explained the new policy and they willingly moved, according to a December Kernel article.

Clark said if an employee refused to move or continually smoked inside the property lines of the hospital, that situation would be managed like any other violation of hospital policy.

Cassie Criscillis, an elementary education sophomore, said the ban would cause her to cut back on her smoking.

“It’s just too hard as a smoker,” Criscillis said. “I’m going to have to cut back.”

President Lee Todd said in a campus-wide e-mail that this ban would improve the campus atmosphere.

Non-smoker Ashley Brown, a pre-nursing freshman, said it will be nice not to see smoke on campus.

“I don’t like how people walk around and casually blow smoke in my face.” Brown said. “I’m allergic to cigarette smoke so it will help me.”

Rex Stidham, a teaching and academic support staff member who does not smoke, isn’t bothered by the ban but doesn’t know how appropriate it is in Kentucky.

“Since I don’t smoke, I can’t say that I mind it,” Stidham said. “It doesn’t seem fair to me for a state that relies on (tobacco). With the tobacco industry, it’s not uncommon to have a lot of smokers in the state.”

Already knowing some students will question the ban, Criscillis compared it to when UK cut back the hours of the W.T. Young Library. She cited students being angry and rallying an effort to change the hours but she doesn’t believe students have the power to change this.

“I think it’s going to anger a lot of people and cause a lot of controversy,” Criscillis said. “I don’t think there is a legitimate enough reason (to overturn the ban).”

While the committee works on ways to implement the smoking ban, for some, the questions, concerns and frustrations will remain. Anthropology freshman Ariel Gold-McCoy summed up her frustration in a short statement.

“It pisses me off,” Gold-McCoy said.