<p>Word… for some reason I figured he was using USD…</p>
<p>Beatnavy, I am going to tell you that if I were in a position to hire I would avoid hiring someone who smokes if at all possible. Why? Because that person will have more days of acute illness (miss work AND spread infections to others), eventually more days of chronic illness (raising health care costs for everyone), that person would be more likely to take more breaks during the workday, that person would be out more because his or her children would be sick more often, and, most importantly, that person would be demonstrating that he or she thinks so little of him or herself that he or she would engage in a self-destructive behavior. (Furthermore, I can tell in an instant who smokes because I can smell it on his or her person!) Now, do I want to go to a college where the prevalant attitude supports self-destructive behavior? NO! Say what you want about personal responsibility, but attitudes are incredibly contagious, as are the problems that go along with cigarette smoking. Just as clothes go in and out of style and people look “wierd” if they do not fit in, so it is with behavior. Many posts on this thread are alluding to this.
From the CDC:
“Tobacco use is common among college students nationwide and is not limited to cigarettes. One study found that the four most common reasons that college students gave for their smoking were stress, less supervision, having more free time, and the number of their friends who smoke. Unfortunately, many students do not realize how addictive nicotine is. Smoking causes cancer, cardiovascular disease, and other problems.”
mjscal, I agree that this work is interesting and may have been done, but it may not have been done in a while (1995 for College Risk Behavior Survey? I can’t find a more recent one, but please someone point me in the direction if I am wrong) and the information may have changed. Many studies show that among adults, smoking is highest among the least educated. But many students here are referencing a very high prevalence of smoking at certain colleges and it would be interesting to look at this according to demographics.</p>
<p>Pretty sure not hiring someone because they smoke could get your ass in an annoying civil suit.</p>
<p>Also if you don’t want to go to a college where the prevalent attitude is destructive behavior, good luck… in case you didn’t notice a lot of colleges have a lot of students who get horribly drunk on weekends and even weekdays… I’d say that’s just as self-destructive as smoking. Not to mention there’s a lot more potential for destruction in the short term compared to smoking (sleeping with someone and regretting it, getting into fights, driving drunk and killing a family of four while you get out unscathed when it shoulda been the other way around, etc).</p>
<p>True dat, DCHurricane. Luckily I’m not in a position to hire anyone or I’d be in big trouble. Of course, I wouldn’t say why I wasn’t hiring the person! But, in all seriousness, I wonder how many employers feel like I do? Just a wake-up call to everyone that this could be a factor too and that potential employers could think like this, and also to point out that smoking affects more people than you think.
And, you’re right about the self-destructive behavior, although I was trying to get a sense of prevalence here. The prevalence of moderate drinking seems to be pervasive, but frequent binge drinking and the resulting behaviors that you describe may be a lot more uncommon. But, I admit that I don’t know this for sure. We need another college risk behavior survey!
Thanks for your input on this thread, though. I think you’ve helped some people.</p>
<p>Well, thinking about it…smokers aren’t a protected class, are they? Are there any lawyers out there? If an employer, landlord, etc. discriminates against smokers, would a civil suit hold water?
Anyway, it’s off topic. Keep the info coming about which colleges have low/high smoking rates!</p>
<p>It probably wouldn’t… honestly when it comes to this sort of stuff, I’m more interested in the nabbing-the-criminals side rather than the convicting-the-criminals side.</p>
<p>honestly levirm, find something better to do then come up with personal attacks and tirades against tobacco users. Its a fact of life, and get over the fact that people choose to do something they find pleasurable which has health risks. It’s not self disrespect, its a decision that they would rather smoke and face potential health problems. Get over it</p>
<p>“but frequent binge drinking and the resulting behaviors that you describe may be a lot more uncommon.”</p>
<p>Obviously you don’t spend much time on college campuses or know many college students.</p>
<p>I didn’t mean it as a personal attack at all, beatnavy, or a tirade. I would like to apologize for getting off topic and ask people to just report the prevalence of smoking at their colleges, and to name the colleges. This is actually very useful information for people, because this “decision” as you call it affects other people a great deal and I think that people want to make their own informed decisions about colleges!</p>
<p>I go to the University of Notre Dame, no one smokes. Like seriously I can walk across campus 5x a day and not see anyone. Maybe I see one smoker a week, maybe.</p>
<p>I attend a small lac.
I think smoking is something people start freshman year in order to seem older, or just because they can. Some later realize that they actually look really stupid standing outside in the cold, huddling against the side of a building, with that small cancer-stick in hand.</p>
<p>It’s all about the stogies.</p>
<p>At U Texas there are all types of people, but most don’t smoke. In fact I see a lot more people doing really healthy habits (jogging, biking, swimming) than I see smoking. More of the people I see smoking are hipsters than anything else and the only time I really see a group of people smoking anywhere is where service workers on campus take their breaks, but I see groups of people excersizing everywhere.</p>
<p>I thought it seemed strange how many people smoked here (which is nothing compared to some of the places mentioned). Our generation has the idea that smoking is unhealthy drilled into them and why are “poor college students” able to fork over so much dough for possibly the most heavily taxed item on the shelf. If you’re likely taking out thousands in loans, paying $50 a carton isn’t helping.</p>
<p>There are a lot of students here at Texas, and the vast majority live off-campus, so it can be very difficult to form a picture of the student body based on what you see in your classes and walking around campus alone. As a result, I’m not even going to try to estimate the % of the student body that smokes, but it’s low.</p>
<p>Wow, my high school has a smoking rate of about 80-85%. I’m glad to be a part of the minority.</p>
<p>Harris Hall is absolutely right. I actually reside in that dorm and it is not uncommon to see at least 5-6 Koreans (toward the evening) lighting up cigars, pipes, cigarettes, etc.</p>
<p>Koreans don’t usually smoke cigars or pipes. Being Korean myself and living in Korean neighborhoods, it’s all about the cigarettes. Marlboro Lights, Marlboro Menthols, and the ones from Korea. But almost every Korean has smoked a cigarette in their life, specifically the guys.</p>
<p>I’m attending Cornell, and I have noticed not that many people smoke there as prices per pack are outrageous! At least compared to the South or Europe in general, but regardless, I smoke( well, I am trying to lower the amount I smoke…it is a b*tch), but there’s prob 5-6 people out of like 90 or so people in my dorm that smoke as far as i know</p>
<p>We have our fair share of smokers at Boston College, and the majority of them are Asian.</p>
<p>Within the first week I was at college I noticed all the smokers. They all hung out on the benches outside the dorm and they all became friends. I didn’t pick up the habit though. I now am an admissions counselor at the college I attended and still notice there are quite a few smokers.</p>
<p>^ It was like that also for me when I was back at Purdue. Every smoker knew each other and we would pretty much be outside most of the time. I used to smoke cigarettes on and off for maybe five years. I just do hookah and smoke stogies nowadays but I can sense mouth cancer coming soon.</p>
<p>
my daughter visited and crossed this school off her list when she noticed this. She even mentioned it in her interview.</p>
<p>I give props to the University of South Carolina. No smoking is allowed anywhere on campus and when I visited I noticed how clean it was - no butt litter anywhere.</p>