One government major is standing up for the rights of students, faculty and staff on campus to smoke.

Peter Jenkins, junior from Greensboro, N.C., said that he feels his calling is to be an advocate for those whose rights are taken away from them. He started a petition allowing students to smoke in certain areas on campus, namely in their cars.

During a Disney internship Jenkins attended during last summer and fall, Jenkins talked to students who came from tobacco-free campuses. One of them said that the university compromised with the students and allowed them to smoke in their cars.

Jenkins said that he did not see why Nicholls could not come to a similar agreement.

Jenkins said that smoking in cars does not affect other students worried about secondhand smoke or smoke allergies.

At least 254 Nicholls students signed Jenkins petition since last Tuesday.

“We only need about 50 more votes for the petition to be put on the ballot in March,” Jenkins said. Five percent of the student body needs to sign the petition for it to get on the ballot, “but we’re probably looking at getting about 10 percent,” Jenkins said.

The ballot Jenkins spoke of is given to the students to vote on in March addressing various issues at Nicholls. Jenkins also has to present his petition to the Student Government Association in the near future.

Eugene Dial, vice president of student affairs and enrollment services, said that he understands many students may not like or agree with the new policy, but he asks that they respect it.

“I recognize that many smokers were respectful,” he said, “but there were many students who threw their cigarette butts on the ground, and those students who do not smoke have a right to not be exposed to that as well as walking through clouds of smoke as they go to and from class.”

Dial said that it is a matter of perspective, and there are many policies that the University has in place, and any one of them could be disputed.

“You could argue and say you could park wherever you want, but you can’t because we have a policy against that. You could argue that you can cheat whenever you want, but there’s a policy against that too.”

Dial said that he welcomes students’ opinions and understands that there will be a difference in opinions when it comes to the tobacco-free policy.

“I have a lot of ideas,” Jenkins said, “and my opinion may not be what the student body wants, but we’re a diverse student body and the University should reflect all of those opinions. I just want to enforce a spirit of compromise.”