Fierce debate over proposals to install pill testing facilities at music festivals has consumed political commentary and discourse in recent weeks, following drug-related incidents at major music festivals across the summer.

However, UQ professor and former course coordinator of Public International Law Anthony Cassimatis has expressed his confusion over the incensed reaction the issue has sparked.

‘I PIL tested students for years,’ Professor Cassimatis told The Obiter when we met in his TCB office earlier this week.

‘How else was I going to know whether to pass the students who took PIL as a course in their penultimate or final year of study?’

While State Governments and music festivals have reached an apparent impasse on the proposal, Professor Cassimatis is frankly bewildered the issue is even controversial at all.

‘It’s not an overly contentious process. I teach the content, I write an exam and the students are given the chance to demonstrate their knowledge in the field and grasp on key concepts of Private International Law. Yes, it’s PIL testing and it can be stressful but I don’t honestly see how it’s going to lead to any more deaths than it currently does.’

Professor Cassimatis seemed truly baffled when we asked him if it was distracting having students in his lectures ‘gurning away, with pupils like dinner plates.’

‘I honestly don’t know why a healthy understanding of the operation of public international law in Australia would lead a student to, what did you say, chew their gums?’

‘Yes, the comedown can be bad after Swotvac, but just take some time to relax. Outlawing any form of testing is simply extreme.’

At press time, Professor Cassimatis was seen looking over practice exam answers outside a portaloo at Laneway.