KEY POINTS:
A full smoking ban is to be introduced at University of Auckland - but those lighting up in the name of research will be exempt.
The university council last night voted in the ban. It is due to start in 2010 and will prohibit smoking at the university's campuses.
However, the rule allows it if certain experimental or research conditions are met.
A spokesman said it was thought Auckland was the first New Zealand university to take the step but a full survey had not been done.
Submissions opposing the ban said it smacked "heavily of social engineering, and is not consistent with a tradition of tolerance and diversity and respect for unconventional views and behaviours".
"Forcing smokers to congregate on the edges of the university's campuses is not desirable for the university's image in the wider community," wrote one.
The total ban was the most popular in feedback, with 75 per cent of 228 submissions supporting it.
Indoor workplaces have been required to be smokefree since 2004.
The university had already flagged areas around air conditioning intakes as non-smoking sites but health and safety worries emerged this year about passive smoking in building entrances and courtyards.
It considered introducing a "10 metre" rule - seen at some Australian universities - which prohibits smoking within 10 metres of buildings.
A paper received by the council said the blanket ban was simple to understand and followed the pattern set down in preschools and schools.
But it warned it could also look and feel "heavy-handed" and could be perceived as discriminatory - an erosion of a "right to smoke".
