Repeal the Keg Ban

While the Crimson finished its second straight year with a victory over the Elis, the Harvard tailgates still had many of the same drinking problems as two years ago. In fact, the Harvard University Police Department said that, based on preliminary information, there had been more ambulance transports for intoxication this year than during the 2000 game. The newly-implemented keg ban did not accomplish its goal—to decrease problems associated with drinking.

Dean of the College Harry R. Lewis ’68 instituted the keg ban after four students got severe alcohol poisoning at The Game two years ago. Yet, preliminary numbers reveal that this year, even more students got sick—up to 30 students overall were taken by ambulance to local medical facilities and at least two were intubated for extreme intoxication, according to a source close to Professional Ambulance. Even more disturbing, Director of University Health Services (UHS) David S. Rosenthal ’59 said that at least six students were treated at UHS with severe, and possibly life-threatening, alcohol poisoning.

The keg ban should be repealed; it did not decrease, and may have actually increased, the number of students who got sick at The Game. In effect, the keg ban prompted many students to “pre-game” before the tailgate with alcoholic drinks. Additionally, the ban caused many of the organizations hosting tailgates to serve mixed drinks, making the level of alcohol more difficult for students to ascertain. These two factors created a dangerous situation where more students could consume unhealthy levels of alcohol.

The ban’s harmful impact extended beyond students to the environment. In previous years, keg bins were easily recycled and students consuming beer from kegs could more resourcefully re-use their cups. This year, however, flurries of recyclable aluminum cans didn’t find recycling bins, and loads of waste ended up on Jordan Field—about 30,000 cans according to Environmental Action Committee estimates. Even worse, hundreds of glass bottles were broken and now lie on the ground of Jordan Field, where many intramural teams play football, soccer and softball.

The prohibition on kegs never really addressed the problem of excessive drinking. Nationwide, college students are prone to binge drinking. Instead of trying to merely change alcohol’s delivery mechanism, the College should addess the problem at its root by implementing an alcohol awareness program. Were students to learn characteristics of binge drinking, dangers of alcohol abuse and tips for safe drinking, there might be a decrease in injuries related to alcohol consumption.

Unfortunately, the College may be hesitant to provide such information to underage students if they fear such a program would encourage drinking. But at Harvard, many underage students do drink; and given the dangers of unhealthy alcohol consumption, fear of encouraging drinking is an insufficient reason for not providing students with potentially life-saving information.

Drinking will remain a component of many college students’ experiences. Recognition of this fact should motivate the College to strive to reduce forms of unhealthy drinking, not to encourage them, as the keg ban does. As long as the ban exists, it will remain an ineffective measure that will hurt students, the College and the environment much more than it could ever help. A keg prohibition will never address the serious problem of binge drinking.