Report Calls For Curbs To Drinking

As goes Harvard, so goes the nation—at least if the US Surgeon General has his way.

A report issued this week by the Surgeon General lists a number of recommendations that colleges should adopt to curb underage drinking, but Harvard already has many of the programs in place.

The report called on schools to limit alcohol sales at sporting events, educate students on the effects of alcohol, forge community partnerships, and encourage alcohol-free social events.

Harvard, unlike many other colleges, currently has programs and alcohol policies in place that incorporate the suggested strategies, according to Director of the Office of Alcohol and Other Drug Services Ryan M. Travia, the “alcohol czar.”

Harvard has developed a Beverage Authorization Team (BAT), a group of graduate students who are licensed bartenders and supervised by Assistant Dean of the College Paul J. McLoughlin II, Travia said.

“They are trained to card students and check for valid ID,” he said, noting that they also distribute wristbands to show whether attendees are of legal drinking age.

BAT has been employed at House parties such as Winthrop’s “Debauchery” and during the weekend of the Harvard-Yale football game, Travia said.

The Surgeon General’s report specifically mentions monitoring alcohol at sporting events.

The Harvard-Yale game, traditionally the University’s most popular athletic competition, has in some years featured a rowdy and alcohol-filled tailgate, a trend that the College tried to change this year.

Travia said the increased policing efforts were successful.

“In the past, there was no way to distinguish underage students,” he said.

But Harvard’s efforts extend past the high-risk environment of the annual Yale showdown.

A little over a year ago, Travia created Harvard’s Drug and Alcohol Peer Advisor (DAPA) program.

And DAPA’s new party-grant system, which begins this weekend, funds food and non-alcoholic beverages at parties.

The system helps foster creative social options that don’t necessarily revolve around alcohol, said DAPA Talya J. Brettler ’08.

Harvard has also engaged with the local community to combat underage drinking.

Harvard has representatives on the Cambridge Licensee Advisory Board and is involved with the Cambridge Prevention Coalition, which “offers training to clerks and managers and owners to prevent underage sales or serving minors,” Travia said.

Still, underage drinking remains a reality at Harvard, where 50 percent of the Class of 2010 identifies as drinkers, Travia said citing a AlcoholEdu survey administered to freshmen.

And Patricia Hao ’09 said she thinks underage students will continue to drink despite Harvard’s many initiatives.

“We can learn more by looking at it,” Travia said of the report, “but I’m confident that we’re in a good place with what those suggestions are.”

—Staff writer Shoshana S. Tell can be reached at stell@fas.harvard.edu.