Wave your lighters in the air: smoking has been banned on campus

Health-obsessed busybodies voted in favour of banning smoking across campus at a Student Council meeting last night.

The motion, which was proposed by Biology student Shirin El Ghomari, called for the university to become a smoke-free zone, save for a few designated smoking areas away from Woodland Road and other main paths.

The motion will now be reviewed by the university, who will decide if they wish to introduce it or not.

A university spokesperson said: “The proposal will now go through official channels at the university to see how it might fit with our existing smoking policy.

“We’re not legally bound to implement the motion, therefore it would be premature to comment further.”

Shirin proposes her motion at last night’s Student Council

If the new rule is enforced, anyone standing outside the ASS library enjoying a cheeky mid-revision ciggie could be hit with a fine.

Only five people opposed the motion, while an amendment to limit the ban to outside buildings only was rejected by a large majority.

Alyx Murray-Jackman, UBU Officer for Sport and Student Development was one of those to vote in favour of the amendment.

“I voted for the amendment because the university currently has a policy that says people can’t smoke around uni buildings, so I think that policy should be tightened up and monitored more efficiently.”

The current university policy says: “The ban on smoking is extended to the immediate areas of buildings and windows”.

Stop killing everyone around you

Alex Bradbrook, the Academic Experience Officer, supported the motion. He told The Tab: “I contacted university health and safety and their response was ‘oh yeah, it’s a problem’.

“Although there is a policy on this already, this motion would send a strong message for it to be enforced.”

Given the difficulties in enforcing the current ban, The Tab asked Shirin how she expects her motion to be enforced.

“Smokers should be told to move. If they keep on refusing, you would have to implement something stronger, perhaps a fine”.

A recent Tab survey found 67% of students felt a smoking ban was either wrong or unnecessary, with only a third of respondents backing the ban.