Pre-Frosh Hospitalized With Alcohol Poisoning

A Missouri high school senior visiting Harvard this weekend spent a night in Mt. Auburn Hospital after drinking half a bottle of vodka, according to his host, Justin E. Levitt '95.

The pre-frosh suffered from alcohol poisoning after he "went into a party somewhere in Matthews" late Friday night, said Levitt, who refused to indentify his guest.

"When I came out 15 minutes later, he had already had half a bottle of vodka and he was sitting in the stairwell," Levitt said.

Levitt said he tried to get the prefrosh to drink water before sending a friend to get Charles O. Matt, a proctor in Matthews North.

"Someone knocked on my door and told me that there was a prefrosh upstairs who had been vomiting for an hour and dry-heaving for 20 minutes," Matt said.

When Matt went upstairs, he said he found a "very drunk and a very unhappy" pre-frosh.

"His host was helping him and trying to get him to drink water, but the pre-frosh was a bit resistant to that," Matt said.

The proctor said he is not responsible for the room where the "gathering" was held.

Matt and Levitt called University HealthService (UHS), which refused to help the pre-froshbecause he was not affiliated with the Universityand had no proof of health insurance, Levitt said.UHS officials refused to comment on the incident.

At about 2 a.m., Matt and Levitt called anambulance. The pre-frosh was taken to Mt. AuburnHospital and was released three-and-a-half hourslater.

Matt said Keith W. Light, the senior adviser onduty that night, has spoken to the hosts of theparty. Light could not be reached for comment.

Matt said that while the students who held the"gathering" should be "somewhat responsible" forthe incident, most of the blame lies with thepre-frosh himself.

"Of course the students violated the College'salcohol policy. But the responsibility liesultimately with the individual," Matt said."There's a fine line between being responsible andbabysitting for pre-frosh."

And the proctor said Levitt handled thesituation admirably.

"His hosts behaved very responsibly," Mattsaid. "I found the incident just astonishing--thata kid would come and get as drunk as that withpeople he doesn't even know. He made a very badimpression."

Despite the incident, Levitt said he might hosta pre-frosh again next pre-frosh, it's the factthat he was a particularly stupid pre-frosh."

And even the pre-frosh was undeterred by theaffair. "He said he was coming here next year,"said Levitt