Smoking allowed in residence halls?

<p>Maybe someone that attends Wake can tell me. Do I see that they allow smoking in some dorms? What is that about? I thought pretty much all colleges of Wake Forest's status banned smoking within buildings. I'm from Connecticut so maybe it is a Northeast thing.</p>

<p>From what I understand, if your roommate agrees to it, you are allowed to smoke in your room (the smoke detectors are sort of sensitive though, so you'd probably have to do it near an open window). </p>

<p>I lived in Bostwick this past year and most of the kids that smoked would go out on the second or third floor balconies or the little sun deck on the roof. I think that most kids went out on the roof when I was in Luter too. You're definitely not allowed to smoke in common areas or in the hall or anything.</p>

<p>Yeah, I think that it's allowed in the dorms except for Johnson (and the upperclass substance free dorm on the years it forms).</p>

<p>Smokers are pretty low key here though... its not like you walk into the dorms and smell smoke everywhere.</p>

<pre><code> I've never seen/or heard of someone smoking cigarettes indoors. However, in my dorm there was this little 'philopsophy group' that would go outdoors and smoke at a certain time most days. Wake maybe be on Tobacco road, but things have changed in the last 15 years or so and Wake's campus doesn't really smoke much. I wouldn't go so far to say everybodys a saint though because I think we make up for a lack of smoking with drinking.
</code></pre>

<p>My daughter was pretty disappointed when she realized that when she heads down to WF in two months that she'll most likely get stuck in a dorm where smoking is allowed. Pretty pathetic that the school can't be more upfront about it with prospective students. Think that most students ... and their parents ... from more socially responsible states just presume that a college isn't stupid enough to have second hand smoke in living areas. Healthy lifestyles, public health benefits, etc. But no ... guess second hand smoke is just a nasty rumor in North Carolina.</p>

<p>Does Wake need to keep the tobacco farmers happy? And look -- college is a great place for the baccy companies to hook more smokers:</p>

<p><a href="http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/press-releases/2001-releases/press03222001.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/press-releases/2001-releases/press03222001.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Your daughter can apply to live in Johnson - it's substance free and smoking isn't allowed, if she's that concerned about it. Also, I'm sure that if you had actually asked the school, they wouldn't have skirted the issue and would have been upfront with you.</p>

<p>I hate the smell of cigarette smoke and am pretty sensitive to it, but I don't ever smell it inside common areas. As I said earlier, it is allowed in individual rooms if the roommate agrees, but I really haven't even heard of anyone actually smoking in their room. The few smokers we do have here take it outside. I haven't really had an issue with it.</p>

<p>I think that you're being a little extreme. First, I'm not sure that Wake wasn't upfront about things, or that they wont be later in the summer. That information will probably come with your daughter's housing information later in the summer. And while I certainly believe in the "nasty rumor" of second-hand smoke, I believe that you probably need to be able to actually smell the smoke before it can do you any harm, and I've never, in three years of living on-campus at Wake, smelled smoke in an indoors public area. The RAs are really good about keeping people from smoking in the lounges and on halls. And if you're worried about cigarettes being a fire hazard, we go to a school where steam from the showers sets off the fire alarm on a fairly regular basis.</p>

<p>You might disagree, but our dorm rooms aren't considered public areas, and what we do in them is pretty much our own business as long as its legal. And I've only heard of two students (both of whom had singles) who have ever smoked in their rooms anyway.</p>

<p>If your daughter is upset that she might live in a dorm where smoking is allowed, first she should know that Johnson, the substance-free dorm, is always an option, and then she should know that even if she doesn't opt for Johnson, she can request a non-smoker roommate, and then, even if her roommate does take up smoking, if the roommate insists on doing it in the room and your daughter is uncomfortable with it, that is more than grounds enough to request a room change. </p>

<p>The bottom line is that your daughter is no more likely to have a smoker for a roommate than if smoking were not allowed in dorm rooms and that it is extremely unlikely that she will be exposed to smoke in the common areas of the dorm.</p>

<p>NoShemps ... I don't think your daughter will find the smoking to be any problem at all. I think Wake's dorms are some of the cleaner (and better smelling- as in less smoke/sketchy odors) of those I have seen ( I've stayed at ones at MIT, Brown, Penn, Georgetown,UVA... etc). </p>

<p>Wake does not advocate tobacco on its campus. I have never been told 'smoke, its cool". I personally have found it A RELIEF to be at Wake compared to my HS. I went to a internationally ranked private High School not in the south where everyone thought you weren't cool if you didn't smoke. There is NONE of that at wake. </p>

<pre><code> Have your daughter tick 'no smokers' on the roomate box. Do that... and chances are she wont have to see any smokers at wake if she doesn't want to. If your daughter has medical problems which require her to avoid inhalation of smoke, report them to the school ...
</code></pre>

<p>Please don't color wake as socially irresonsible when your daughter has not even set foot on campus. Please don't brand all of us as southern tobacco smokers. I have never lived in the south before but no one anywhere has treated me so much as family as they do at Wake.</p>

<p>I'm surprised to hear that smoking is allowed in individual's rooms. My son has been at Wake for 2 years and I know he hates being around smoke---he has never mentioned anything about people smoking inside. When I was in dorms, I never smelled tobacco smoke (or any other kind). There are ashtrays on the outsides of all the buildings, I just assumed that they were there for people to extinguish before entering a building as all buildings were smoke free.</p>

<p>
[quote]
My daughter was pretty disappointed when she realized that when she heads down to WF in two months that she'll most likely get stuck in a dorm where smoking is allowed. Pretty pathetic that the school can't be more upfront about it with prospective students. Think that most students ... and their parents ... from more socially responsible states just presume that a college isn't stupid enough to have second hand smoke in living areas. Healthy lifestyles, public health benefits, etc. But no ... guess second hand smoke is just a nasty rumor in North Carolina.</p>

<p>Does Wake need to keep the tobacco farmers happy? And look -- college is a great place for the baccy companies to hook more smokers:</p>

<p><a href="http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/pre...s03222001.html%5B/url%5D%5B/quote%5D"&gt;http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/pre...s03222001.html

[/quote]
</a></p>

<p>Lol, talk about stereotyping an entire school. Not many people smoke, and I don't know anyone that smokes in their room. Please, just be a little bit more informed, before you post such things.</p>

<p>im pretty sure any dorm with centralized heating and cooling bans smoking. im pretty sure it's that way for babcock, since we were centralized.</p>

<p>In upperclassmen suites, Yyou can only smoke if your whole suite agrees on it. I think its the same with underclassmen, but you should check.</p>

<p>Ok I don't go but my brother does. I visited his Bostwick dorm this past year and was struck by the LACK of a smoky smell in the air. Marijuana is extremely discouraged at Wake and I belive my bro said only 1 kid in his entire building was a pot head. Alcohol, however, well you couldn't help but smell it and see it everywhere...</p>

<p>Nice little tip on Page 44 of the Guide to Community Living from the considerate folks in the Wake administration:</p>

<p>"In order to minimize the risk of false alarms to the building’s smoke detection systems, students are advised that if they smoke in their rooms to do so near an open window."</p>

<p>Now ... electrical appliances are the leading cause of dorm fires, so it's no surprise that there are strongly worded prohibitions against all kinds of things like George Foreman grills and extension cords on Page 36 of the Guide.</p>

<p>But, hmm, smoking is the number two cause of dorms fires. And at least in most of the 50 states there's a belief that smoking is also a known health risk. Since Wake Forest Baptist Hospital only went smoke-free on July 1st, let's not speculate on what the rank-and-file (or even doctors?) in NC believe about the health risks of enjoying Winstons and Salems on a regular basis.</p>

<p>So, wilmingtonwave and others ... glad to hear that you think that smoking is not wide-spread, but any comments about your administrators' zeal in banning crock pots and electric blankets but permitting another activity that's not only a fire hazard but also a health risk to students ... smokers and non-smokers alike?</p>

<p>Who do you think your adminisitrators are afraid of offending if they grow a pair and do the right thing and ban cigarettes along with toasters and halogen lamps?</p>

<p>noshempsplease- Why don't you contact the school and discuss this with the administration? Your post sounds like you are upset, and that would probably be the best place to direct it. (in a nice and polite way, of course, as all people deserve respect, regardless of their tobacco heritage) I am sure you want your daughter to be informed about the issue, but not feel a negativity about her school before she even gets there, (as we parents know students have so much to stress about.) Good luck to you and your daughter, I am sure she will enjoy everything else Wake has to offer!</p>

<p>Smoking is not that big of a deal. I have friends who smoke but they leave the building if they want to light up.</p>

<p>You incoming freshman/parents are blowing it out of proportion.</p>

<p>This is one of those "compromising" situations that every school in the land has eventually. Some more obvious than others. WFU would still be in WakeForest were it not for those tobacco kings and queens. So while we all know the deal about smoking and its down sides, this is one that WFU simply must compromise on and seriously soft peddle. There are still hundreds of tobacco-born millionaires there in W-S who are sorely loved and sought by the WFU president and his development officers. They can not and will not likely takie too tough a stand on the hand that's fed them, clothed them, housed them, and put them on the nation's higher ed map. Same with U. of Richmond. Or Furman and its Pepsi and Lay's chips. Emory and its Coca-Cola. Penn State and whichever caffeine laden product is currently on the Bryce Jordan Center Scoreboard because they bought and paid for it and the right to addict Nittany Lions. Or how about the milllions given by the Waltons and their heirs from all the $$ made on the backs of their elderly and illegal band of employees. </p>

<p>This is life ... even, maybe especially, in the lofty air of the ivory/ivy tower. They have their "ideals" but don't allow them to get in the way of growing the endowment, even with tainted $$$.</p>

<p>Anyone who loves WFU can be mighty thankful that a whole lot more love(d) Winstons and Salems. Can't have it both ways.</p>

<p>what are you guys smoking?</p>

<p>anyways are we talking about cigs here, because thats not that big a deal, weed I could understand. Maybe.</p>

<p>I'm an RA at Wake and have to say I've never encountered anyone smoking in the halls, period. I don't think its common. Policy has it that if one resident is against smoking in the halls, the RA can enforce no smoking on the halls.</p>