Free Water Bottles on Friday

Oh, the irony. Tomorrow, the Drug & Alcohol Peer Advisors (DAPAs) and Office of Alcohol & Other Drug Services (AODS) will give out Camelbak water bottles—some of which will inevitably be used to smuggle alcohol into the Harvard-Yale football game next year.

The event runs from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on the fourth floor of the MAC. In exchange for the free water bottles, students must fill out a short survey and sit through a brief interview with a health professional.

Every year for the past three years, more students have showed up for the water bottles. Last year, 1200-1300 students braved the pouring rain to get the free gear. "We would love to see 1400 students this year," said Jane E. Alexander '12, the president of DAPA.

"DAPA is all about responsible use," Alexander said. She added that she hopes the event will cause students to reflect on their alcohol use. "Even if they only reflect for five minutes, that is five minutes more than any other Friday."

As part of National Alcohol Screening Day, the bottle giveaway aims to get a sense of alcohol use at Harvard. The survey will be completely anonymous, but it may provide data for AODS.

NASD actually occurs on April 7, according to the Screening for Mental Health website. But just as the rest of the world has its majors while Harvard clings to concentrations, we have to do these things our own way.