However, 7.9 percent of students reported driving after drinking within the past 30 days.

“That’s astonishing and appaling,” says Susan M. Brunka, ’03. “I never thought drunk driving would be that common at Harvard.”

The statistic is especially surprising, considering the small number of students with automobiles on campus.

Fourteen percent of students reported physically injuring themselves due to drinking in the past year, and thirty percent reported doing something they later regretted.

“Clearly, students need to be more cautious when they drink,” says Brunka.

Peer Pressure

A large portion of the survey was devoted to the difference between student perceptions of peer behavior and actual student behavior.

The survey data showed that Harvard students highly overestimate the substance use of their peers.

Students guessed that half of their peers use marijuana each month, while only 12.2 percent reported marijuana use.

Students also assumed that 69 percent of their fellow students smoked each month, whereas only 15.6 percent do.

Though only 72 percent of the student body consumes alcohol each month, undergraduates estimated 98 percent.

“I think everyone assumes that everyone else is having more fun,” says Laure E. “Voop” Vulpillieres ’02. “But really, they’re not.”

—Staff writer Arianne R. Cohen can be reached at cohen7@fas.harvard.edu.