As your elected leaders at your Students’ Union, we are here to represent you. We have received multiple concerns regarding smoking on campus, which have arisen from Your Big Ideas, and we have raised them with the University. Over the course of this academic year, we have spoken to senior members of University staff to hold them to account. The University has since released a statement outlining their stance on smoking:

“Proposals relating to smoking on campus, including the provision of smoking shelters and a move to a smoke-free campus, have been discussed at both University Health and Safety Committee and Senior Leadership Team.  These discussions, which considered the views of students and stakeholders, culminated in the decision not to designate the University as a smoke free campus given the potential difficulties envisaged in enforcing this, not least because of the many through routes through campus used by non-University individuals; but instead to improve signage and provide additional bins to encourage people to smoke further away from building entrances. The University is also going to transfer the policy relating to smoking on campus to the relevant student and staff handbooks to improve visibility and further raise awareness of the agreed approach.”

If you have any other suggestions or solutions, please share your thoughts on the Your Big Ideas page or feel free to email me as well as letting us know your thoughts via social media @huddersfieldsu and the University @HuddersfieldUni

Jonathan Stephen

SU President