Report Calls For Alcohol Administrator

A single administrator should oversee all alcohol-related issues at the College, and the administration should better articulate its alcohol policies to students, recommended a 13-member committee on alcohol abuse in a report released yesterday.

The Committee to Address Alcohol and Health at Harvard—consisting of faculty, administrators and undergraduates—also suggested that the College develop a “working relationship” with unrecognized social groups such as final clubs, sororities and fraternities, as well as the inclusion of students in crafting educational initiatives.

Dean of the College Benedict H. Gross ’71 created the committee last fall after a record rise in the number of students admitted to University Health Services (UHS) because of alcohol poisoning.

“The main goal is to reduce heavy drinking, via educational and therapeutic programs,” Gross told The Crimson last October. “I’m doing this because I think it’s a serious health problem.”

Yesterday’s report echoed Gross’ educational focus by pushing for better student understanding on the risks associated with dangerous drinking.

“This is not a Trojan horse for anything else for more control. We just want to avoid tragedies,” committee chair and Currier House Master Joseph L. Badaracco said.

The report emphasized the College’s delicate balance between its legal mandate to prevent the use of illicit substances and its responsibility to student health.

Current College policy states that students may seek help from UHS, residential staff or the Harvard University Police Department (HUPD) without risking disciplinary action. But many students are confused or unaware of this policy, the report said.

“There’s a kind of wariness, where if you’re feeling bad because you’ve been drinking, to call the police because people associate the police with some kind of wrongdoing,” Badaracco said. “We’re trying to overcome fairly common assumptions about UHS and the police.”

To improve outreach, the report also advocated for more student involvement in designing alcohol education.

“We envisioned students advising at different points on things like: what’s the right message to use, what’s likely to work, how will students react to alcohol,” Badaracco said.

The report also called for a new administrator to oversee the implementation of the report’s recommendations and to coordinate the College’s alcohol-related programs.

The proposed post was the third coordinating position at the College suggested in the last two years—it followed the creation of Barreira’s position and one to oversee sexual assault issues.

Badaracco said that the proposed administrator should have specific knowledge in current medical and academic research on college alcohol problems and experience with student outreach. He said the College could possibly tap someone currently working in this capacity at a peer institution.

If created, the position would fall under the post of Director of University Counseling, Academic Support and Mental Health Services Paul J. Barreira.

Barreira commended the report for spelling out problems with excessive drinking at Harvard, and said that oversight of alcohol-related issues demands collaboration between different parts of the community.

“There has to be a common ownership that this is a problem that diminishes students’ experience at the College and should be addressed,” he said.

Gross also emphasized to engage the entire community, especially students.

“Without student leadership, the College cannot solve the problem of dangerous drinking,” Gross wrote in an e-mail yesterday. “This cooperation will be particularly important as we plan for the Harvard-Yale game.”

Badaracco cited the near death of a student because of alcohol poisoning at the Harvard-Yale game two years ago as one of the committee’s concerns.

“At the Harvard-Yale game [2002], there was a student convulsing in an ambulance and its wheels were spinning in the mud,” he said.

The report also suggested proctors and tutors focus more on counseling and wellness.

“We’re not talking about reinventing the tutor role—it’s a shift in emphasis,” said Badaracco. “We didn’t see there being a stark tradeoff between the counseling role and the academic role.”

“I think that change is an acknowledgement of the way that tutors and proctors can help students not only as academic advisers, but also as life counselors,” said Sujit M. Raman ’00, a committee member and freshman proctor. “There is no question that proctors and tutors will continue as officers of the University in a disciplinary role.”

—Staff writer Margaret W. Ho can be reached at mwho@fas.harvard.edu.

—Staff writer Katharine A. Kaplan can be reached at kkaplan@fas.harvard.edu.