Some teachers at NorthTec have been stuck in a stalemate with management for more than a year about the polytech's reluctance to go smokefree.
Nursing tutor Jenni Moore said the nursing school particularly had raised many concerns about the issue.
"This is a health issue for Northland. We shouldn't be encouraging and making it all nice and pretty for people to smoke," Ms Moore said.
Last week, NorthTec chief executive Paul Binney told the Northern Advocate he had some practical concerns about a total ban on smoking. The polytech planned to move the current smoking hut on the Whangarei campus from its location between the nursing school and cafeteria, to a less populated area, Mr Binney said.
The school will also stress to students that they need to stick to the designated smoking areas and keep them clean. If not, the right to smoke at NorthTec will be removed, he said.
However, a total ban on smoking would mean students and staff who do smoke would end up smoking on the streets, which was not a good look, Mr Binney said. But smoking is out of control on the campus with no enforcement of the designated smoking areas, Ms Moore said.
"A tertiary education institution that has people all over the place smoking is just disgusting," she said.
Mr Binney said the school was looking at installing tamper-proof cigarette receptacles to stop local children raiding the containers.
However, the nursing staff told school management about the issue over a year ago and since then nothing has been done, Ms Moore said.
She left her position at NorthTec on Friday for another job.
Ms Moore said she wanted to stress that she does not have an issue with smokers, only about how management approached smoking on campus.
She was a social smoker for 20 years before she quit.
First-year nursing student Kawhena Boyd said she was really surprised when she joined the polytech that smoking was allowed on campus.
"Just today one of our tutors in class was complaining about the window being open as it was close to the smoking area," she said.
Second-year nursing student Megan McRae said there was no place for smoking on the campus of a tertiary institution.
"I think as nursing students it's something we should be passionate about anyway as it's about people's health," she said.
NorthTec does offer many services for students who want to quit smoking.