The Princeton Review has released its annual compendium of rankings and ratings of institutions of higher learning across the land, The Best 382 Colleges 2018 Edition, and buried deep inside are student survey results that helped the Review determine which colleges and universities are the most (and least) marijuana-friendly.
In addition to a myriad of questions about academics, diversity and community, the survey asked 137,000 students "How widely is marijuana used at your school?"
Before getting to the list, a couple of caveats: First, the survey data is impressionistic — asking respondents how many other students they thought were tokers instead of asking for self-reporting, which would theoretically be more reliable. Second, the Review provides no hard numbers — just rankings — so it's impossible to know if Ithaca College is way stonier than Bard or just a bit stonier.
That said, the general outline of the pot-friendly small colleges skews heavily to the liberal arts and the Northeast, and New York state in particular, with a couple of outliers on the .legal West Coast and one on the not-so-legal Gulf Coast. Pot isn't legal in the Empire State, but it is decriminalized — and apparently pretty popular.
Here, in rank order, are the Princeton Review's stoniest small colleges:
1. Ithaca College, Ithaca, NY
Enrollment: 6,221
This is a school in a town where the mayor wants to install safe injection sites for hard drug users, and enlightened attitudes toward pot are no surprise.
2. Bard College, Avondale-on-Hudson, NY
Enrollment: 1.995
The school lives up to its reputation.
3. Eckerd College, St. Petersburg, FL
Enrollment: 1,844
Who knew?
4. Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, NY
Enrollment: 2,680
Fun Day is more fun, and the National Comedy Festival is funnier when you're baked. This liberal arts college, a perennial high-ranker, was #1 in 2013.
5. Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT
Enrollment: 2,971
Inspiration for the '90s film PCU poking fun at campus activism, the school generates a steady stream of artists, actors, and musicians. What's inspiring them?
6. Reed College, Portland, OR
Enrollment: 1,410
Of course.
7. Pitzer College, Claremont, CA
Enrollment: 1,089
Part of the Claremont Colleges, this LA-area school is highly ranked academically, but includes intercollegiate athletics, too. Go, you fightin' Sage Hens!
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