Efforts to curb underage drinking on campus are nothing new. Two years ago, College officials decided to ban kegs from dormitories in Harvard Yard. But College officials are still debating the effectiveness of those policies.

Rather than cutting down on drinking overall, some officials say, banning kegs encourages students to switch to hard liquor. And stringent restrictions often encourage students to do their drinking alone or in small groups, they say.

"It certainly has led to drinking in small groups," says Henry C. Moses, the dean of first-year students. "But we were always alert to the risk that eliminating kegs in the Yard may lead to people saying `if we can't have kegs then we'll have hard liquor.'"

But although drinking habits may have changed, Moses says he has no evidence that the keg ban has led to a rise in alcoholic tendencies among years.

And he says that the ban has significantly cut the number of problem parties in first-year dorms.

"The number of large parties in the Yard that cross the boundaries of civilized behavior are way down," says Moses.

Raising the drinking age to 21 has also made it difficult for the College to enforce a uniform alcohol policy, says Bossert. Since some students are able to drink and others are not, police cannot simply concentrate on parties that go out of control, he says.

And because the college can no longer sponsor social functions that include alcohol, students are more likely to drink on their own, he says.

"Raising the drinking age has really done us in," says Bossert. He says Harvard needs to change its "blink with what you do in your own room" attitude.

"The existing laws drive people into the closet. There is something very anti-social about that," says Currier House Master Gregory Nagy, adding that he and other masters have witnessed a growing amount of "underground drinking."

`Maturation Rite'

In the past, some college officials have suggested experimentation with alcohol is an unavoidable "maturation rite," Johnson says. Adherents of this view cite surveys tracking college classes over a four-year period, which suggest that although students tend to drink excessively during their first years, consumption decreases by their senior years.

"Some people say this isn't a drinking problem--they say that is just what freshmen are supposed to do," Rosenthal says.

But, says Johnson, attitudes are rapidly changing.

"I think there is much less tolerance of that [philosophy]," Johnson says. "Instead of letting people learn the hard way, there is now a greater push to educate them away from that."

And the real change that needs to occur, suggests Rosenthal, is the fundamental attitude students have about drinking.

"Students are not drinking to relax," says Rosenthal. "They drink to get drunk, and that is when you lead to problems."