# Stop smoking in the dorm! **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [November 16, 2008, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-smoking-in-the-dorm/472969 "2008-11-16T05:48:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Green\_Cymbeline](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_cymbeline/32/9244_2.png) [@Green\_Cymbeline](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Cymbeline)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2008, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-smoking-in-the-dorm/472969/81 "2008-11-17T21:22:45Z")
> [@Sarahfeena](#): > > Actually, shit is worse…it’s much more likely to kill you, and a lot faster, too. I’m just talking about the odor. Like what your bathroom smells like after you take a big dump. That’s an unpleasant smell, but it’s not going to give you cancer or an asthma attack. > [@Sarahfeena](#): > > I hate cigarette smoke as much as most people, but here’s where you lose me. All of these smells aren’t equally offensive, and most of them are MORE offensive than the smell of cigarette smoke. If you were forced you to smell sewage for a day, you’d be begging to trade it for the cigarette smoke. See, I think they are equally as offensive. To me, smelling cigarette smoke is just as bad as smelling a really stinky fart. Cigarette smoke smells REALLY BAD!!! And it sticks to your hair and clothes like glue, making you smell putrid. Just imagine that every time you went to the bathroom to take a shit, the smell stuck to your hair and clothes, so that for the rest of the day, you smelled like shit? Gross, right? Same thing with cigarette smoke. ---
**Author:** ![Omegaman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/e480ec/32.png) [@Omegaman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omegaman)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2008, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-smoking-in-the-dorm/472969/82 "2008-11-17T21:36:24Z")
> [@nyctea scandiaca](#): > > Just imagine that every time you went to the bathroom to take a shit, the smell stuck to your hair and clothes, so that for the rest of the day, you smelled like shit? Gross, right? Same thing with cigarette smoke. No. If it was shit and your wife caught a wif you could say it was her upper lip. If it was a cigarette, you’re just busted. Fuckin’ cigarettes. ---
**Author:** ![Sarahfeena](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sarahfeena/32/519_2.png) [@Sarahfeena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sarahfeena)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2008, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-smoking-in-the-dorm/472969/83 "2008-11-17T21:56:43Z")
> [@nyctea scandiaca](#): > > I’m just talking about the odor. Like what your bathroom smells like after you take a big dump. That’s an unpleasant smell, but it’s not going to give you cancer or an asthma attack. True, but I was responding to your post that said this: [QUOTE=nyctea scandiaca] How would you feel if a rotten foul sewer smell came from your neighbor’s house/apartment and filled your house with the smell of shit? [/QUOTE] I don’t think a “rotten foul sewer smell” is the same as the smell a person leaves in the bathroom. If I smelled actual sewage, I would be far more concerned and upset than if I smelled some cigarette smoke, because sewage is far more toxic. If that’s not what you meant, then that’s a different thing. > [@](#): > > See, I think they are equally as offensive. To me, smelling cigarette smoke is just as bad as smelling a really stinky fart. Cigarette smoke smells REALLY BAD!!! And it sticks to your hair and clothes like glue, making you smell putrid. > > Just imagine that every time you went to the bathroom to take a shit, the smell stuck to your hair and clothes, so that for the rest of the day, you smelled like shit? Gross, right? Same thing with cigarette smoke. If you lived in a place where there was a constant sewage smell, it probably WOULD stick to you. ---
**Author:** ![Hazle\_Weatherfield](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Hazle\_Weatherfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hazle_Weatherfield)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2008, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-smoking-in-the-dorm/472969/84 "2008-11-17T22:15:47Z")
From the OP: “You are not allowed to smoke in the dorm. You know this because you are not allowed to smoke inside any building on campus, nor any public building within the fucking state. It is explicitly stated in the housing contract that you will not smoke in the dorm. Yet you continue to smoke in the fucking dorm!” The actual issue is that this is, by contract, a non-smoking dorm and people are breaking the rule. Not whether it should be allowed or what its affect are on other people. This thread has been Highly Jacked! Carry on… 😉 FWIW, I would be pretty pissed if I paid to live in a specific dorm solely because it was non-smoking and then found that people could get away with smoking in it. At the very least, I would demand a refund and help moving into a dorm that guaranteed no smoking. ---
**Author:** ![villa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/bc79bd/32.png) [@villa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/villa)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2008, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-smoking-in-the-dorm/472969/85 "2008-11-17T22:22:20Z")
But that isn’t the case here, **Hazle**. It’s not a matter of moving into a specific non-smoking building, because **all** the buildings on campus are no smoking. I agree, this rule shouldn’t be broken. But much of the problem could be avoided by having smoking and non-smoking dorms and, _gasp_, giving young adults the choice as to where they wish to reside. ---
**Author:** ![hawksgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ed655f/32.png) [@hawksgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hawksgirl)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2008, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-smoking-in-the-dorm/472969/86 "2008-11-17T22:34:44Z")
> [@villa](#): > > But that isn’t the case here, **Hazle**. It’s not a matter of moving into a specific non-smoking building, because **all** the buildings on campus are no smoking. > > I agree, this rule shouldn’t be broken. But much of the problem could be avoided by having smoking and non-smoking dorms and, _gasp_, giving young adults the choice as to where they wish to reside. They probably can’t. At least at my school, RAs weren’t given a choice in what building they lived in. As employees, that would break laws about smoke-free workplaces. ---
**Author:** ![villa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/bc79bd/32.png) [@villa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/villa)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2008, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-smoking-in-the-dorm/472969/87 "2008-11-17T22:40:19Z")
> [@hawksgirl](#): > > They probably can’t. At least at my school, RAs weren’t given a choice in what building they lived in. As employees, that would break laws about smoke-free workplaces. Wouldn’t the obvious solution be to give RA’s a choice as to whether they wanted to live in a smoking or non-smoking building, like everyone else? Alternatively, to get rid of them altogether? ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Carrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f0a364/32.png) [@Captain\_Carrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Carrot)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2008, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-smoking-in-the-dorm/472969/88 "2008-11-17T22:53:26Z")
> [@villa](#): > > Wouldn’t the obvious solution be to give RA’s a choice as to whether they wanted to live in a smoking or non-smoking building, like everyone else? What makes you think anyone gets that choice? At my school, freshman year they pick for you, and every other year that you live on campus, you submit a list of three buildings that you wouldn’t mind living in, and they pick one of those and assign you to some room therein. ---
**Author:** ![villa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/bc79bd/32.png) [@villa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/villa)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2008, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-smoking-in-the-dorm/472969/89 "2008-11-17T23:03:44Z")
Nothing makes me think you get the choice. I am simply explaining how it would be a fucking obvious solution to give people the choice. Then smokers get to smoke. Non smokers get to live in non-smoking buildings. Peace and harmony breaks out. And the Cubs win the World Series. Putting a check box onto a piece of paper for a freshman to say whether they wish to live in smoking or non smoking accomodation should not stretch the capacity of an institute of higher learning to too great a degree (well, maybe Ohio State). This needn’t be difficult. The fact that it is so is, to a large extent, because anti-smoking campaigners would rather have everywhere non smoking, in full knowledge that people will break the rules, rather than allowing people the choice to smoke in certain buildings. ---
**Author:** ![Hippy\_Hollow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hippy_hollow/32/4841_2.png) [@Hippy\_Hollow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hippy_Hollow)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2008, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-smoking-in-the-dorm/472969/90 "2008-11-17T23:07:48Z")
Wow, I must say I find this shocking. It’s 2008. I am much more understanding of someone who came of age in the 1940s, 50s, 60s, even 70s when you could argue that the negative impact of smoking wasn’t as well known as it is today. If you grew up in the 1980s and 1990s and chose to smoke, I think you’re a dingus. Up there with people who street race like they’re characters in _The Fast and The Furious_. Anyone can disagree with me; I’m just one guy. But the folks living in college dorms were most likely born in the late 1980s. Unbelievable. I mean, I think Denis Leary’s hilarious, but he probably has his own house and ventilation system. If you’re choosing to puff your brains out, why don’t _you_ move to an accommodating locale? Like your own house? Again, as someone who has worked in dorms professionally over the years, smoking isn’t just a nuisance that Pollyannas bitch about. That would be the woman I had who complained about the her neighbors turning the water on after 10 pm, or the fact that they played Candlebox at an audible level around midday. People are asthmatic and have smoke allergies. And believe it or not, I’ve seen a few smoldering fires started by someone tossing a butt carelessly in a trashcan. It makes every bit of common sense to ban smoking from public buildings. And I say that as someone who occasionally puffs a cigar and loves the smell of pipes. ---
**Author:** ![Hazle\_Weatherfield](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Hazle\_Weatherfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hazle_Weatherfield)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2008, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-smoking-in-the-dorm/472969/91 "2008-11-17T23:54:12Z")
> [@Hippy\_Hollow](#): > > Wow, I must say I find this shocking. It’s 2008. I am much more understanding of someone who came of age in the 1940s, 50s, 60s, even 70s when you could argue that the negative impact of smoking wasn’t as well known as it is today. > > If you grew up in the 1980s and 1990s and chose to smoke, I think you’re a dingus. Up there with people who street race like they’re characters in _The Fast and The Furious_. Anyone can disagree with me; I’m just one guy. But the folks living in college dorms were most likely born in the late 1980s. Unbelievable. I mean, I think Denis Leary’s hilarious, but he probably has his own house and ventilation system. > > If you’re choosing to puff your brains out, why don’t _you_ move to an accommodating locale? Like your own house? > > Again, as someone who has worked in dorms professionally over the years, smoking isn’t just a nuisance that Pollyannas bitch about. That would be the woman I had who complained about the her neighbors turning the water on after 10 pm, or the fact that they played Candlebox at an audible level around midday. People are asthmatic and have smoke allergies. And believe it or not, I’ve seen a few smoldering fires started by someone tossing a butt carelessly in a trashcan. It makes every bit of common sense to ban smoking from public buildings. And I say that as someone who occasionally puffs a cigar and loves the smell of pipes. Well put. Also, I have no problem with smokers being provided a place to smoke. Hey, give them a heated/ac-d building every few blocks or so. It’s just silly to think that you can give them a room in an otherwise non-smoking building and not have it seep into the rest of the place. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2008, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-smoking-in-the-dorm/472969/92 "2008-11-18T00:05:54Z")
> [@wolfman](#): > > So why bother to try to compromise. I applaud the anonymous Guerrila warrior fighting the good fight against oppression in your society. Suck on the sweet sweet second-hand smoke of freedom. If having to go outside to smoke is “oppression”, we should be so lucky. Jesus. (For the record, smoke doesn’t bother me so much-I don’t LIKE it, and I think it stinks, but it doesn’t bother me. However, I don’t see what’s so horrid and oppressive about having to go outside to have a cigarette.) **ntucker** , when my sister was in college, candles WERE banned from dorms. And I’m sure if you had simply asked politely, the person burning them would have put them out. Did you even try? As for bars-meh, you expect _bars_, of all places, to smell like smoke. That’s up to the owner. I don’t begrude a bar (privately owned), to allow people to light up. (They’re trying to ban it here in Pittsburgh, which I find ridiculous). Restaurants-that’s a wee bit trickier. ---
**Author:** ![NinjaChick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/71c47a/32.png) [@NinjaChick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinjaChick)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2008, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-smoking-in-the-dorm/472969/93 "2008-11-18T00:15:01Z")
Wow, this has gone places. Having gotten the initial rant out of my system, I really only have two things to say: 1. To those accusing me of whining, being a killjoy or narc, whatever: fuck off. 99% of the time, I’m perfectly content to let people do whatever they want. I have not once complained about drinking or partying in the dorms, nor noise, nor anything else. That’s because 99% of it, regardless of whether it’s against the rules or not, doesn’t effect me, therefore I don’t give a damn. I’m not trying to be a bitch or anything; I’m trying to preserve my ability to breathe. If you don’t believe that exposure to smoke can cause an allergic reaction, then you’re lucky not to have allergies and you can fuck off. It does. 2. Here is the college policy on smoking, word-for-word, from the student handbook: > [@](#): > > Smoking is prohibited in all college buildings at [School Name] (including student housing) and within 25 feet of building entrances per the Santa Fe Smoke Free Ordinance. It is forbidden in the brush areas around the campus due to the extreme fire risk in the Santa Fe area. So I don’t know how much of it is up to the school admin and how much is up to the city ordinances, but that doesn’t matter. I’ve never seen the 25 feet thing enforced or even complained about. As I said - if the people in my dorm want to smoke right outside the door? Fine. If they want to stick their head out their window and smoke in their room that way? Fine. If you want to smoke in your own room, you cannot live off-campus. I paid my money to live on-campus with the understanding that it would be in a smoke-free building, because that’s what the college policy says. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2008, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-smoking-in-the-dorm/472969/94 "2008-11-18T00:40:30Z")
Oh, and for those who do smoke-please, for the love of god, do NOT spit on me. Or on the ground. If you MUST, use a napkin, or at the very LEAST, a trash can. It’s absolutely disgusting. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve narrowly missed a loogie hawked on me. Gah. ---
**Author:** ![spinky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@spinky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spinky)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2008, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-smoking-in-the-dorm/472969/95 "2008-11-18T00:57:35Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > **ntucker** , when my sister was in college, candles WERE banned from dorms. And I’m sure if you had simply asked politely, the person burning them would have put them out. Did you even try? You know, I never really considered it my business. I just avoided them. ---
**Author:** ![JayRx1981](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/71e660/32.png) [@JayRx1981](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JayRx1981)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2008, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-smoking-in-the-dorm/472969/96 "2008-11-18T01:06:01Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > **Even the dangers from the second-hand smoke are mostly exaggerated and imaginary** , but whining about a faint little odor in a dorm is just self-absorbed and lame. Cite? :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2008, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-smoking-in-the-dorm/472969/97 "2008-11-18T01:56:44Z")
> [@JayRx1981](#): > > Cite? :dubious: [http://www.ornl.gov/info/press\_releases/get\_press\_release.cfm?ReleaseNumber=mr20000203-00](http://www.ornl.gov/info/press_releases/get_press_release.cfm?ReleaseNumber=mr20000203-00) ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Carrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f0a364/32.png) [@Captain\_Carrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Carrot)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2008, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-smoking-in-the-dorm/472969/98 "2008-11-18T04:56:54Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > [http://www.ornl.gov/info/press\_releases/get\_press\_release.cfm?ReleaseNumber=mr20000203-00](http://www.ornl.gov/info/press_releases/get_press_release.cfm?ReleaseNumber=mr20000203-00) Not as bad as was previously thought!=imaginary. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2008, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-smoking-in-the-dorm/472969/99 "2008-11-18T05:05:23Z")
Besides, it still doesn’t mean it doesn’t give you headaches or trigger allergies, or whatever. Or just plain stink. Either way, since a contract was signed, and **NinjaChick** is paying for a NO SMOKING DORM, why should she have to suffer, when she’s not the one breaking the rules? ---
**Author:** ![Robin\_Goodfellow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Robin\_Goodfellow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robin_Goodfellow)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2008, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-smoking-in-the-dorm/472969/100 "2008-11-18T05:06:37Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > Besides, it still doesn’t mean it doesn’t give you headaches or trigger allergies, or whatever. Or just plain stink. > Either way, since a contract was signed, and **NinjaChick** is paying for a NO SMOKING DORM, why should she have to suffer, when she’s not the one breaking the rules? Didn’t you hear? This is COLLEGE. NO RULES FUCK YEAH ANARCHY COLLEGE. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-smoking-in-the-dorm/472969.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-smoking-in-the-dorm/472969.md?page=6)