Last spring, Gross called drinking at Harvard a “gigantic” problem, but said that a crackdown is unnecessary—instead suggesting a change in students’ attitudes towards alcohol.

Badaracco expressed similar sentiments when describing the objectives of his committee.

“The aim of this committee is not to crack down on parties, but it is really to try and reach out to students,” Badaracco said.

Gross and Badaracco’s statements are consistent with one of the findings in Wechsler’s report. According to the survey, only 20 percent of schools that considered drinking to be a major problem had instituted bans on alcohol, compared to 54 percent of schools that viewed drinking as a minor problem or no problem.

Wechsler did, however, acknowledge that this could be a case of dual causality—schools with stricter alcohol policies can have less of a drinking problem once the policy is in place.

Wechsler, a champion of restrictions on alcohol supply, drew criticism from colleagues over the summer when he reported that “social norms” marketing, which promotes decreased alcohol consumption by sending students the message that heavy alcohol consumption is not the campus norm, is ineffective.

His work was cited in the decision to ban kegs from the 2002 Harvard-Yale Game.

Rosenthal said that he was not sure what approach to curbing alcohol consumption was best.

“We need to know the reason why students feel this is a necessary aspect of their college life, and what it is we can do to deter it,” Rosenthal said. “I don’t think there is one method, and that is the problem.”