While Harvard students binge far less often than the national average, they cause just as much harm to their peers as students at other colleges.

A Crimson survey found that Harvard has half the number of frequent binge drinkers as the rest of the nation's schools, but Harvard students experience the same levels of assault, vandalism and serious quarrels due to other students' drinking.

And more Harvard students report suffering unwanted sexual advances because of the alcohol use of their peers.

These "secondhand" effects of drinking on campus can lead to serious consequences.

"Recenty I saw two students who came in, one with a head injury he sustained while drinking, the other [who had not been drinking] with a broken arm from an accident involving another student who was drunk," says Donald H. Perlo '83, an after-hours care physician at University Health Services (UHS).

Francis D. "Bud" Riley, chief of the Harvard University Police Department, says alcohol poses a significant threat to the security and well-being of students on campus.

"It's one of our most consistent problems," he says. "The majority of the trouble we have with students is almost inevitably connected to alcohol."

When Harvard students drink, they tend to imbibe in intimate gatherings behind closed doors--in dorm rooms or final clubs--instead of at larger, more open public spaces, like bars and clubs. As a result, Harvard drinkers are more likely to impact those students who are around them, from random party-goers to romantic interests to roommates.