WVU FACING A WEEDY PROBLEM

College Ranks Among Top 20 For Marijuana Smoking

MORGANTOWN -- Their school may have fallen out of the Princeton Review's
top 20 as a party school, but hardcore socialites at West Virginia
University have salvaged something: the No. 16 ranking for campus pot smoking.

The Princeton Review, a test-preparation and college admissions company
based in New Jersey, put WVU into its top 20 for marijuana smoking among
students.

The rankings of 345 colleges and universities come in 63 categories and are
based on interviews with 100,000 secondary school students across the nation.

In 1997, Princeton ranked WVU as the country's top party school.
Administrators worked hard to erase that image by offering programs and
events to deter irresponsible drinking. In turn, WVU disappeared from the
party school rankings after 1998.

President David C. Hardesty Jr. said the rankings are scientifically
inaccurate. He said some of those surveyed are freshmen who've been
enrolled for three weeks or less.

"Everyone's perception is not the same," Hardesty said. "We certainly don't
pride ourselves in being ranked in the top smoking category, but it doesn't
make us any better or worse than any other major college."

For a decade, educators and medical experts have derided the Princeton
Review surveys as irresponsible and unscientific.

The American Medical Association repeatedly has criticized the party school
rankings, saying they legitimize high-risk drinking and portray alcohol as
central to college life.

Hardesty said college years mark a time when some students will experiment
with drugs, whatever university they attend.

One physical education major said he's noticed a rampant drug culture among
students since arriving in Morgantown from Florida earlier this year.

"There's definitely a cocaine and pot problem here," said John O'Neill,
adding that he drinks on weekends but does no drugs. "The attitude of some
students amazes me. They want to party all week."

Not all students experiment.

"I don't smoke pot," laughed Fred Martin of Charleston. "I'm already funny,
fat and lazy."

WVU ranked in only one other category: No. 20 in popular sports programs.
That rating yielded a more positive response from university officials.

"At a small town school like ours, sports are what attracts many students,"
Hardesty said. "I'm not surprised sports are popular here."

At its Web site, the Princeton Review described WVU as having "excellent
programs" in journalism, agriculture, engineering and business and as a
"very good place to get a degree."

The university's sports programs also make Morgantown a "great college
hamlet" and a "fun place to go to school," the site said.