National Alcohol Survey Mirrors Trend at Harvard

Alcohol-related trips to Harvard University Health Services (UHS) are up 27 percent through February of this academic year, in line with a new survey released Monday by the Harvard School of Public Health (SPH) reporting that college administrators nationwide are becoming increasingly concerned with student alcohol abuse.

Of the 747 administrators from colleges and universities nationwide who responded to the questionnaire, 81 percent indicated that student alcohol consumption is a problem or major problem, compared to 68 percent in a 1999 survey.

Henry Wechsler, SPH lecturer on society, human development and health and the lead author of the report, wrote in an e-mail that he attributed the increased concern among college administrators to heightened public awareness of college binge drinking and the growing threat of lawsuits by parents of students who suffer alcohol-related injuries.

“At many colleges alcohol problems have become part of college presidents’ agendas, moving up from the domain of part-time health educators in college health centers,” Wechsler wrote.

David S. Rosenthal ’59, director of UHS, echoed Wechsler’s statements, saying that alcohol consumption has become an issue of increasing concern at Harvard as well.

“If you were to ask administrators or if you were to ask me what keeps us up at night, this would be it. I worry about alcohol deaths on campus,” Rosenthal said. “I think everybody is putting this up higher on their agenda.”

Rosenthal said 103 students were admitted to UHS for alcohol-related illness between September and February of this school year, compared to 81 for the same period last year.

There were 17 undergraduate visits to UHS for alcohol related illness this February, compared to nine last year.

December and January statistics from this academic year, however, showed 16 fewer visits to UHS than the same time the previous year.

Wechsler, who said he was unsure whether Harvard participated in his study, wrote in an e-mail that administrators differ significantly in their proposed solutions to undergraduate alcohol abuse.

Only 34 percent of respondents said they have banned alcohol on campus for all students, while 90 percent reported having some form of counseling or treatment program, he said.

Though Harvard policy already prohibits alcohol in first-year dorms, Dean of the College Benedict H. Gross ’71 formed a Committee on Alcohol and Health at Harvard last semester to investigate alcohol abuse and develop a more defined strategy for combating drinking problems among students.

Joseph Badaracco Jr., Master of Currier House and chair of the alcohol committee, said yesterday that the committee is still in a research phase and firm recommendations will not be in place for several weeks.

“At this point we are simply putting together a catalogue of different measures at different schools. We have not gotten near the point of making recommendations,” said Badaracco, who met with Wechsler earlier this school year to discuss his alcohol-related research.

Gross has said he hopes to deter drinking by increasing student social space and offering more alcohol-free events on campus.

Last spring, Gross called drinking at Harvard a “gigantic” problem, but said that a crackdown is unnecessary—instead suggesting a change in students’ attitudes towards alcohol.

Badaracco expressed similar sentiments when describing the objectives of his committee.

“The aim of this committee is not to crack down on parties, but it is really to try and reach out to students,” Badaracco said.

Gross and Badaracco’s statements are consistent with one of the findings in Wechsler’s report. According to the survey, only 20 percent of schools that considered drinking to be a major problem had instituted bans on alcohol, compared to 54 percent of schools that viewed drinking as a minor problem or no problem.

Wechsler did, however, acknowledge that this could be a case of dual causality—schools with stricter alcohol policies can have less of a drinking problem once the policy is in place.

Wechsler, a champion of restrictions on alcohol supply, drew criticism from colleagues over the summer when he reported that “social norms” marketing, which promotes decreased alcohol consumption by sending students the message that heavy alcohol consumption is not the campus norm, is ineffective.

His work was cited in the decision to ban kegs from the 2002 Harvard-Yale Game.

Rosenthal said that he was not sure what approach to curbing alcohol consumption was best.

“We need to know the reason why students feel this is a necessary aspect of their college life, and what it is we can do to deter it,” Rosenthal said. “I don’t think there is one method, and that is the problem.”