No Alcohol Arrests, Injuries at The Game

Harvard’s triple-overtime football victory was not the only reason to celebrate this past weekend. The Harvard-Yale Game also came and went without any alcohol-related arrests or injuries.

According to Yale Police Department (YPD) Lieutenant Michael Patten, who was in charge of the YPD patrol at The Game, ambulances transported about 30 people away from the Yale Bowl for evaluation after excessive alcohol consumption. Still, he said, the game and accompanying festivities “went remarkably well” overall.

“I don’t recall any specific incidents” of alcohol-induced misconduct, Patten said, adding that neither YPD nor the New Haven Police Department made any arrests at The Game.

Yale University Health Services declined to release the number of people treated for alcohol poisoning in Game-related incidents.

Patten said students were compliant with officers’ requests during The Game’s tailgate. He said officers spoke to students who continued tailgating late into the afternoon, and that students subsequently agreed to shut down.

“There was absolutely no resistance from anyone,” he said. “Did we achieve a hundred percent compliance? No. But this is not something that’s going to happen overnight.”

Patten said any disobedience the officers did encounter was minor.

“People are going to test limits a little bit,” he said. “If we had not gone around and talked to people, maybe they would’ve stayed.”

There were only two physical injuries at The Game, neither of which appeared to be alcohol-related, Patten said.

“One walked into the back of a truck by mistake,” he said. “The other was an alum, an older gentleman, who was playing football and stretched out for a pass and landed on his shoulder.” He described these occurrences as “just accidents” and said the fact that there were not more injuries is “pretty remarkable,” given the large number of people in attendance.

Patten said it was “hard to say” whether or not new Yale restrictions, limiting the size of parties the night before The Game and mandating that tailgates end by the start of The Game’s third quarter, played a role in the relative restraint that characterized the weekend.

“I think people knew what was expected of them,” he said. “They see the reasonableness of the regulations.”

According to Patten, the relative lack of rowdiness over the weekend represented a success in Yale’s efforts to change the atmosphere surrounding The Game.

“The University is trying to achieve a paradigm shift here,” he said. “We’re not trying to be heavy handed. We’re trying to enhance the safety of the day for everyone.”

—Staff writer Matthew S. Lebowitz can be reached at mslebow@fas.harvard.edu.