An anonymous author has created a petition as a satirical rebuttal of a long-standing decision to make the University of Wollongong entirely smoke-free.
The university’s campus smoking ban spread to the Unibar outdoor area on January 5 and came as a shock to some students returning to UOW from the summer break.
The tongue-in-cheek petition to bring back the smoking area has over 250 signatures to date.
Some people UOWTV spoke to said they intended to sign the petition because a designated smoking area would reduce the likelihood people smoking across campus.
UOW made the executive decision in 2016 to begin the transition to an entirely smoke-free environment.
“While designated smoking areas were initially provided, these were always intended to be phased out over time as the University moved towards a completely smoke-free campus,” a spokesperson from UOW said.
The university said it put the health of students and faculty at the forefront of its decisions and that no one should be exposed to secondhand smoke.
Though the petition has a significant number of signatures, the university said the smoking ban would continue.
