Rhetoric Without Facts

On Jan. 21, Dean of Harvard College Evelynn M. Hammonds and University Provost Steven E. Hyman presented residential tutors with information regarding alcohol-related admissions to University Health Service’s Stillman Infirmary over the past few years. Although the College has declined to release exact statistics regarding the number of students, tutors at the meeting reported they were told that the number of students admitted to UHS during fall term for alcohol-related reasons was nearly equivalent to the total number admitted for these reasons last year. If true, this means the number of undergraduates seeking attention for intoxication will rise for the third straight academic year; last year, almost 200 students sought UHS treatment for alcohol-related illnesses.

This increase would represent an interesting problem for the Office of Alcohol and Other Drug Services. The AODS was created in 2005 in response to an alarming increase in alcohol-related admissions to UHS. After 123 students were admitted to UHS in 2002-2003—a number that represented a sevenfold increase from five years beforehand—former College Dean Benedict H. Gross ’71 created the Committee to Address Alcohol and Health at Harvard. The Committee recommended that a single administrator oversee all alcohol-related issues at the College, so the AODS was created in 2005. The creation of AODS seemed to alleviate the problem somewhat; around 124 students were admitted to UHS in 2006-2007 and the blood-alcohol levels of those arriving at the infirmary were lower than in previous years.

On one hand, the increase could mean that students increasingly are taking advantage of the College’s amnesty policy, which says, “Students may bring an intoxicated or drug-impaired friend to University Health Services or to a hospital, or seek assistance from College residential life staff or HUPD, and by doing this, neither they nor the friend will face disciplinary action from the College for having used or provided alcohol or drugs.” Still, just a year ago AODS Director Ryan M. Travia said that attributing the rise in alcohol-related hospitalizations to heightened awareness of the amnesty policy would be an “optimistic outlook.”

In the face of this constellation of facts, we urge UHS to release statistics about the number of students who have been hospitalized this year for alcohol-related reasons as well as provide more details about the alcohol-related cases they see.

Useful details would concern the severity of alcohol cases seen, which might be diagnosed from the blood-alcohol levels of students who have been admitted, how many students have had their stomachs pumped, and how many students merely sleep the night in the infirmary. They would also concern the ethnographic particulars of the cases seen: Are there specific class years or groups of people that are being seen more? For instance, in 2007, a UHS report revealed a steep decline in the number of athletes admitted for alcohol-related reasons, indicating that some basic characteristics are surveyed. Knowing what characteristics contribute to an increased risk for alcohol hospitalization will warn relevant interest groups to be more vigilant about protecting their members. A student is more likely to take seriously the benevolent advice of a friend or blockmate than the advice written on a water bottle. And these people are more likely to step in if they are convinced that certain types of behaviors toward alcohol have proven consequences. Indeed, without such details the AODS’s warnings about dangerous alcohol behaviors lack a certain urgency and gravity, because it is too easy to dismiss alcohol hospitalization.

To be true, the College could, in fact, make small beneficial changes to the alcohol education it provides, particularly concerning freshmen. The 2004 committee reported noted that proctors could be better marshaled to educate freshman about safe alcohol behaviors. Indeed, this is still the case. Peer Advising Fellows should also be better employed in this effort. AlcoholEdu, the online alcohol education program all incoming freshmen must complete, is not enough of an introduction to safe alcohol behaviors for this group.

However, in the end, the people in the best position to stop risky drinking are one’s fellow undergraduates. Unless we take a certain amount of personal responsibility for the way we drink, then the dangerous drinking habits that exist on our campus, as on many others, will not change. The impetus for this cultural shift will not come from rhetoric without facts. With this information, as a community, we can come to terms with the increase in alcohol-related hospitalizations.