Hammock brings trespass warning

Jonathan Hunt was told by security staff he could be given a trespass order if he continued to use his hammock on campus.

Massey University's Turitea campus in Palmerston North is renowned for its picturesque park-like setting.

But any students who want to relax there be warned - you may only do so in a "professional" manner.

Jonathan Hunt, a fourth-year mathematical physics student, had been taking his hammock to university for a lunch-time lie-down or to listen to music or a recorded lecture.

But security staff told Mr Hunt that he could can no longer hang his hammock on university grounds.

He was told the hammock looked "unprofessional" and if he was found on campus in one again he would be in danger of getting a trespass order.

"It is ridiculous," Mr Hunt said. "Since when was a university so concerned about 'looking professional' that it needed to ban perfectly reasonably ways of relaxing?"

Mr Hunt said the hammock down-time helped refresh his mind and he always took care to hang it out of the way so as not to obstruct anyone.

"All I will say is that a 'professional' dress standard is most probably what got a famous physicist a job as a patent clerk. It is certainly not what led him to the theory of relativity," he said, referring to Albert Einstein.

Massey should "demand results not bow ties", Mr Hunt said.

Paul Falloon, president of Massey University Students' Association, said it was one of many examples of petty red tape.

During a camping protest, students were told it was against policy to sleep on campus, posters are banned in some bus shelters but not others, and stickers to mark student debt reaching $8 billion had to be taken down because the glue apparently damaged the paint.

"The place is riddled with petty bureaucracy," he said.

However, Massey Vice-Chancellor Professor Judith Kinnear moved yesterday to put the matter to rest.

She told the Herald there was no hammock ban and the incident was the result of a misunderstanding.

She said Mr Hunt had been relaxing close to the bike sheds and security staff were primarily concerned it was not an appropriate place to string a hammock.

In an email to Mr Hunt she said the campus was a place for many activities, including relaxation and meditation.