New data reveal minor increase in cigarette use

Despite University efforts to curb smoking on campus, slightly more Penn students reported cigarette use last year than did the year before.

The number of Penn undergraduates engaging in at least "occasional" smoking has remained fairly steady since 2000, with only a 3 percent increase between last year and the year before.

Data obtained from Penn's annual Alcohol and Other Drug Survey show the percentages of undergraduates who smoke hovering around 25 percent since 2000, the year the Office of Health Education began collecting data on student cigarette use.

This percentage is higher than the 2003 national average of 22.1 percent but reflects the 25.5 percent of adults in the state of Pennsylvania who reported smoking cigarettes in 2003, as reported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 2003 is the most recent year for which national data are available.

Current efforts to reduce smoking on campus include individual counseling offered by Penn's Transdisciplinary Tobacco Use Research Center, the ban on smoking in college houses that began in the fall of 2004, and a newly formed student group -- Penn Students Against Tobacco.

Susan Villari, the director of the Office of Health Education, blamed the college environment for fostering students' smoking habits.

"Students who smoke are generally not motivated to quit since they view themselves as 'social smokers,'" Villari said, adding that many 'social smokers' only smoke at parties or in bars.

Sandi Herman, who provides individual counseling to help students quit smoking through a program called Project GRAD, agrees that the college atmosphere leads many students to become addicted to cigarettes.

"People think, 'I'm in college now, I'll quit when I graduate,'" Herman said. "Then 20 years later, they're still smoking."

Herman said she approves of the smoking ban in college houses, adding that making it more difficult for students to smoke is key to reducing tobacco use among students.

"People who can smoke where they live will have many more cigarettes," Herman said. "If you have to get up and walk outside in the freezing cold to have your cigarette, you're probably going to be less likely to smoke it."

The percentage of students smoking jumped from 25 percent to 28 percent with the ban, but Herman remains confident and said that more time is needed for the ban's effect to be noticeable.

"A lot of the students I've seen didn't smoke until they came to Penn and had roommates that smoked," Herman said. "I think the ban makes a tremendous effect" that will become apparent.

As for what changes could still be made to address smoking by college students, Herman said she thinks cigarette smoking needs to be made less socially acceptable.

"You can go outside at a friend's house and have a cigarette" and that's seen as acceptable, Herman said. "But if you said you were going outside to shoot up heroin, the response would be different."

Penn students are also getting involved in the anti-smoking movement.

College sophomore Amanda Feldman, who founded Penn Students Against Tobacco last spring, blames tobacco companies for the prevalence of smoking at colleges.

"We're not against smoking or smokers," Feldman said. "We're against the tobacco companies ... because smoking is an addiction, and [tobacco companies] know that and build on it."

Feldman said that it is easier to prevent students from starting smoking than it is to get current smokers to quit, adding that anti-smoking television commercials may be ineffective.

"I think there is a fine line between insulting smokers and encouraging non-smokers," Feldman said. "You can walk up to a college smoker and tell them it's wrong, and they won't listen."

Alex Gitsis, a Wharton freshman who says he smokes about a pack a week, said that anti-tobacco ads do affect him -- just not enough to quit.

"I think [the ads] have something to them because they do honestly give you the effects of cigarettes," Gitsis said. He added, laughing, "I think [not] smoking is much healthier than smoking, and I should probably quit as soon as possible."

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