"Exactly the same behavior might be regarded as looking out for students in trouble and prying into their private lives, depending on how one looks at it," Lewis writes.

Whether administrative stakeouts at the Grille constitute breaches of privacy depends on individual perspective, says Greenough Hall proctor Matthew J. DeGreeff '89, who has been a proctor for eight years.

"The Harvard police say most of the bad things that happen at Harvard start at the Grille, and they make their way out," DeGreeff says. "And the Grille lets everyone in."

Though DeGreeff says he has never gone to the Grille to catch students, if he ever ran into one of his students there, he would not be able to ignore them.

"If I see the kid and the kid sees me, I think I would have a conversation with the student the next day," he says. "And I would probably just mention it in passing to the dean."

Double-Secret Probation

DeGreeff says proctors, tutors and deans do exercise discretion regarding student alcohol use. The way he responds to an incident will often depend on how many times he has caught the student drinking in the past.

He says Nathans' policy that all alcohol incidents must be reported to the Freshman Dean's Office (FDO) does not necessarily handcuff proctors in their dealings with students, as some have charged.