Perkins cites his own Hobart College, in addition to the University of Arizona, the University of Missouri and the University of Virginia (UVA), among others, as campuses where social norms strategies have been successful.

"Each of these colleges started with different drinking rates and witnessed double-digit reduction rates after just a few years," Perkins says. "National drinking patterns have flatlined, but our program has seen substantial drops in high-risk drinking rates."

H. William DeJong, director of the Higher Education Center for Alcohol and Other Drug Prevention in Newton, Mass., is leading the charge for social norms research. Initial results from his study, funded with a $4 million grant from the Department of Education, showed that students do misperceive drinking among their peers. The study has found that students consume an average of 3.35 drinks when they party, but believe that their peers have 6.54 drinks.

The program has had particular success at UVA, where 18 students died in alcohol-related incidents between 1990 and 1998. Now, the administration posts signs telling students most of their peers who drink do so in moderation.

"Social norms takes less of a punitive approach," says James C. Turner, the director of UVA's student health department. "It gives healthy, normal messages."

This judgment-free approach to college drinking makes it difficult for administrators to maintain strong policies against underage drinking--policies which some experts feel are counterproductive.

Anthony Smulders, an expert on public health at Loyola Marymount University, says he sees the current drinking age as one of the causes of excessive drinking on college campuses.

"If students are not allowed to drink under the age of 21, how can they be expected to know how to drink responsibly when they do turn 21?" he asks.

Saying No To "Madison Avenue"

Wechsler rejects the theories behind social norms initiatives.

He says not enough data exists to support the claim that promoting moderate drinking will solve the problem--he calls it the "Madison Avenue" approach--all style, little substance.

"There's a large problem, and to say there isn't is wrong," he says. "It lets colleges off the hook."

Despite its success at other schools, Dean of the College Harry R. Lewis '68 says Harvard has not explored social norms initiatives and has no plans to do so in the future.

"Things that might work in one place might not work in another," he says. "We haven't had any real discussions."