Brooke H. McCarthy '01, co-captain of the women's soccer team, says her team drinks together to celebrate games or to bond with teammates. McCarthy says these social situations are safe for drinkers because "you always have 27 other people looking out for you."

Despite these assurances of support, however, twice as many athletes as all students said their drinking has caused them to forget where they were or what they did so far this year.

Athletes at Harvard may be more inclined to drink because of their outgoing personalities, says Megan M. Austin '01, co-captain of the women's varsity lacrosse team.

"I think that athletes are a more social group of people on the whole, especially here. These people would be [drinking] anyway," Austin says. "Athletes do go out more, but I think it has more to do with them being social than with them being athletes."

Athletes acknowledge that they do drink more, but Parker and more than thirty other student-athletes are taking steps to make sure drinking does not get out of control.

Parker serves on the Undergraduate Advisory Committee, which works with the Athletic Department to schedule two mandatory meetings for all athletes at the beginning of the year that stress realistic and safe drinking habits.

At one of the meetings, Mike F. Green, president of Collegiate Consultants on Drugs and Alcohol, speaks to Harvard's athletes, encouraging them to drink responsibly rather than abstain entirely.