Evening Republican, Volume 22, Number 37, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 February 1919 — WHAT’S THIS? VASSAR GIRLS PERMITTED TO SMOKE [ARTICLE]

WHAT’S THIS? VASSAR GIRLS PERMITTED TO SMOKE

An armistice has been signed between the Vassar college smokers and non-smokers. A ruling prohibits smoking by the girls in the dormitories, but they may smoke elsewhere.—- —-—- - ■ There are less than 1,000 girls at Vassar. There has been secret smoking by approximately one-quarter of the students. The other threequarters protested. The college faculty had never taken action. The girls are availing themselves of the many secluded nooks. Probably the most patronized is “Sunset Hill.” Here the girls are wont to gather and puff at dainty and perfumed cork or plain tip cigarets, unmolested by the trustees or the warden. At a meeting at which the ruling was passed many girls claimed the same inherent right to smoke as their fathers and brothers. Dr. Beigs, state commissioner of health, asked his advice, is said to have replied that cigarets are harmful,* and to have_ advocated cigars and pipes, which the girls considered extremely “unwomanly.”