Students Binge Less, But Hurt More By Others' Drinking

While Harvard students binge far less often than the national average, they cause just as much harm to their peers as students at other colleges.

A Crimson survey found that Harvard has half the number of frequent binge drinkers as the rest of the nation's schools, but Harvard students experience the same levels of assault, vandalism and serious quarrels due to other students' drinking.

And more Harvard students report suffering unwanted sexual advances because of the alcohol use of their peers.

These "secondhand" effects of drinking on campus can lead to serious consequences.

"Recenty I saw two students who came in, one with a head injury he sustained while drinking, the other [who had not been drinking] with a broken arm from an accident involving another student who was drunk," says Donald H. Perlo '83, an after-hours care physician at University Health Services (UHS).

Francis D. "Bud" Riley, chief of the Harvard University Police Department, says alcohol poses a significant threat to the security and well-being of students on campus.

"It's one of our most consistent problems," he says. "The majority of the trouble we have with students is almost inevitably connected to alcohol."

When Harvard students drink, they tend to imbibe in intimate gatherings behind closed doors--in dorm rooms or final clubs--instead of at larger, more open public spaces, like bars and clubs. As a result, Harvard drinkers are more likely to impact those students who are around them, from random party-goers to romantic interests to roommates.

Harvard students suffer the same level of harassment from their hard-drinking peers as the rest of the nation, and undergraduates report having to "babysit" drunk roommates much more often than the national average.

"One reason [for the high numbers] is the close proximity of students, with 99 percent living on campus," Riley says.

And the academic drive of Harvard students--one of the main reasons undergraduates choose to limit their drinking--makes them more sensitive to the raucous, disruptive behavior of others.

"The competitive, driven nature of students here also makes them more likely to not tolerate and to complain about having to baby-sit drunk people or having their work interrupted," Riley adds.

Problem Drinking

Harvard students fall far short of matching their national counterparts for the frequency of their binge drinking, but they are almost exactly on par with national averages for secondhand effects of alcohol use.

About a fifth of Harvard students report getting in a serious argument as a result of others' drinking--similar to the rate of occurrence at colleges nationwide.

Almost half of all Harvard students said they have found vomit in the halls or bathroom of the dorm since the beginning of this year and about a tenth said they have had their property damaged, even with numbers for the whole country.

These high levels of incidence are troubling, says Ralph Hingson, director of the social and behavioral sciences department at the Boston University School of Public Health.

"It's no big deal that 11 percent of people had their property damaged?" Hingson asks. "There's a degree of people being pushed around that's remarkable."

Serious Consequences

Problems resulting from student drinking on campus extend beyond disruptions to study time and unclean bathrooms.

About 11 percent of Harvard students report having been hit or assaulted by a fellow student who has been drinking, just slightly below the national average of 12.3 percent.

And drunk students are much more likely than sober ones to hurt themselves or others--Perlo says about half of all trauma cases UHS treats involve alcohol use.

The numbers are even more dramatic for rates of sexual assault on campus.

More Harvard students report suffering unwanted sexual advances than the rest of the country--21.8 to 19.4 percent of undergraduates.

"Drinking plays a significant role in impairing judgement and heightening aggression so it can be very dangerous in a sexual situation," says Shawna L. Shames '01, a member of the Coalition Against Sexual Violence. "Date rape is unfortunately very common and it is even more common with alcohol."

And cases of sexual assault serve as a major justification for administrative action aimed at curbing excessive drinking.

"The reason we worry so much about these matters is that the consequences, both for the perpetrator and for the victim, can so totally and tragically alter the lives of promising individuals," says Harry R. Lewis '68, dean of the College. "People are taking their lives in their hands by attempting to have sex when either they or their partner are drunk."

And the number of alcohol-related incidents that have resulted in College disciplinary action have more than tripled in the last three years.

In 1999, the Administrative Board took disciplinary action in 86 cases involving alcohol, compared with 25 cases in 1997.

Adventures In Babysitting

The most common secondhand effect experienced by students on campus is "babysitting," taking care of their peers who have had too much to drink.

Harvard students babysit much more than their peers across the country.

Almost 60 percent of Harvard students say they have looked after a drunk friend since the beginning of this hear, compared to 46 percent nationally.

Neil R. Brown '01, a staffer in Room 13, says the peer counseling service often helps students trying to take of their inebriated companions.

"We get a lot of calls on Friday and Saturday nights from students calling to ask how to deal with their drunk friends," he says.

Administrators say babysitting is a serious issue on campus.

"We get visits from roommates wondering what they can do about the environment in which they are living, where they don't want to be seen as snitches but they are tired of babysitting their roommates," Lewis says. "This is a tough problem to which we have tried to respond."

Behind Closed Doors

Much of Harvard's binge drinking goes on in private, intimate settings on campus, in the company of fellow students.

Students are much more likely to binge drink at a final club or at a party in a dorm room than at an off-campus bar or club, The Crimson's survey found.

Daniel L.K. Yamins '01 has noted the difference between Harvard and other colleges.

"You don't notice any noisy [Harvard]students. The nature of students here at Harvard is different than at schools like Stanford and Duke," Yamins says. "Students here drink behind closed doors--at final clubs, in their rooms."

Final club members and representatives of Sigma Chi, the largest campus fraternity, say they try to take precautions to ward off harassment and assault as result of drinking.

"At parties we work with a list so everyone at the party is either a member or on the list," says a final club member in Kirkland House. "We know to limit the people in attendance to those who we know and trust to not create problems."

"These parties are not ones where everyone is drunk and crazy. Many people stay sober," he adds.

Sigma Chi appoints "party monitors" to make sure the festivities do not get out of control.

"Among a number of other provisions, the policy involves limiting the number of male guests allowed at our parties to avoid such problems as fights, sexual assaults, excessive noise, property damage," says Michael G. Housman '01, the president of Sigma Chi. "There are always at least two party monitors at the parties who are responsible for looking after the well-being of the party-goers and ensuring that there are no harmful behavior at the party itself."

"So far we have been fortunate to avoid any problems," he adds.

Despite final club member assurances, Lewis has spoken out harshly against the all-male institutions, calling them accidents waiting to happen.

Henry Wechsler, director of the Harvard School of Public Health's College Alcohol Study, says it is the responsibility of the University to curb the behaviors associated with binge drinking.

"High frequency of drinking affects everyone, including students that don't drink," he says. "Colleges need to respond to [these secondary affects]. They need to provide a minimum quality of campus life."

Wechsler likens the effects of binge drinking to the dangers associated with secondhand smoke--non-drinking students suffer when their peers are drinking around them.

And Wechsler says once the second-hand effects of binge drinking are fully understood by the University community, binge drinking will no longer be tolerated.

"People used to smoke all the time, everywhere. They'd blow smoke in your face, have no regard for non-smokers or others around them," he says. "[But now], once the results of secondhand smoke have been publicized, smokers have to go outside of buildings, out in the cold."