In Our Hands

After involved efforts by the leadership of the Undergraduate Council and a host of others from the office of the Dean of the College, the Harvard community can now take a collective sigh of relief. There will be a tailgate tomorrow, and it won’t be half bad. The “massive” barbecue is rumored to be serving wings, and the beer distributor is all set to provide students with all the juice of the barley they can drink. House Committees are researching recipes for spiked hot cider once more, and Enterprise Rent-a-Car is, doubtless, selling out of pickup trucks. Besides the presence of four odd representatives of the Boston Police Department (BPD), 2004’s Harvard-Yale tailgate is set to rival 2002’s in fun factor and no doubt surpass it in safety.

While students may chafe under the increased supervision at the tailgates, it’s ultimately a self-inflicted wound. Students have only themselves to blame. The obscene drunkenness of a very small number of students during 2002’s tailgate, including the oft-quoted instance of a Harvard student who nearly died in an ambulance stuck in the mud, is the fundamental reason why the tailgates are tougher this year. Stories about over-drinking at the 2002 tailgate reached the BPD, which had previously ignored the small spit of their jurisdiction that hosted our modest celebration, and swiftly turned the tailgates into a Boston—not Cambridge—issue.

All this means that the 99.9 percent of the student body, Yale included, who have not hitched a ride home from The Game in an ambulance is getting unduly scrutinized because of the actions of a few. For this tiny percentage of students, we implore you to take responsibility for your health and safety. It can be hard to cite non-clichéd arguments about why getting perilously drunk is bad. There are, of course, non-trivial health risks to over-drinking. Cases of sexual assaults are almost always connected to alcohol consumption. Hangovers aren’t fun. Almost every student has heard these arguments before, and sadly they’ve had little effect on the 0.1 percent of stubborn students who insist on drinking in excess of excess. Well, now there’s a new, even more compelling reason not to over-drink: You could ruin the Harvard-Yale tailgate (at Harvard) forever.

Students need to show everyone, the BPD included, that partying responsibly, moderating alcohol consumption and taking care of one another are the norm, not the exception. Pleasure and precaution have to mingle during this year’s tailgate. No excuses. Until we, the student body, can prove ourselves, Harvard remains only a few over-drinkers away from losing a tradition as old as The Game itself—for good.