CORRECTION APPENDED

Alcohol-related arrests and hospital admits from Saturday’s Harvard-Yale tailgate dropped from when Harvard last hosted The Game in 2004, following the introduction of far stricter alcohol and party policies this year.

Only one student was taken to the emergency room for alcohol poisoning due to the tailgate—down from 30 in 2004, according to Director of Alcohol and Substance Abuse Services Ryan Travia.

Two tailgaters were admitted to local hospitals for alcohol overconsumption and an additional six were treated at the scene, Harvard University Police Department spokesman Steven G. Catalano said.

The weekend as a whole also generated fewer hospital admissions than in previous years, according to Travia.

Two students were admitted to Mount Auburn Hospital for alcohol poisoning Friday night. No students were admitted Thursday, and figures for Saturday night are still being compiled, he said.

Administrators called this year’s tailgate a success and credited the new rules banning students from bringing alcohol to the tailgate area and playing drinking games.

Travia praised undergraduates for their decorum at the tailgate.

“I feel like our students really stepped up to the plate and proved that they can party safely,” he said, adding that he would “wholeheartedly” endorse a similar approach the next time Harvard hosted The Game.

“The tailgate went really well,” Campus Life Fellow John T. Drake ’06 said yesterday. “All the feedback I’ve gotten has been positive.”

Standing outside of the food tent on Saturday, Dean of the College Benedict H. Gross ’71 described the tailgate as “terrific.”

But some student opinions were not as laudatory.

“The tailgate was clearly affected by restrictions and weather,” Quincy House Committee (HoCo) co-chair James P. “J.P.” Sharp ’07 wrote in an e-mail. “It wasn’t nearly as good as previous tailgates, but people still had a lot of fun.”

Undergraduate Council President John S. Haddock ’07 said that though many of the restrictions were “unfair and unnecessary,” students made the most of the tailgate.

“Hopefully this year can serve as proof that students can behave responsibly and shouldn’t need heavy-handed enforcements,” Haddock said yesterday.

Sharp also said the parties sponsored by the College and HoCos on Friday night compensated for tailgate restrictions.

“I think because of the allowance for Houses to host these campus-wide parties (which used to be banned on H-Y weekend), there was actually a lot more net fun being had than two years ago,” Sharp wrote in an e-mail.

“On Friday night, I saw my fair share of drunk and rowdy students, but everyone seemed to be in control of themselves...No one was behaving like an idiot (something I couldn’t say in 2004),” Drake wrote in an e-mail.

The relocation of the tailgate—due to wet fields—from Ohiri Field to the parking lot south of McCurdy Track decreased the amount of space for student tailgates.

Dunster, Leverett, and Mather held a joint “neighborhood tailgate,” according to Dunster HoCo co-chair Samantha H. Fink ’07.

For one Yale student, crowded conditions were more problematic than the alcohol restrictions.

“I’m not having as much fun as I can because I can’t move,” sophomore Michael Lavigne told The Crimson at the tailgate.

He said while many Yalies expected the tailgate to be “awful,” “I think people are glad they came.”

He added that underage students seemed to be able to obtain and consume alcohol despite the restrictions.

Standing inside the first-aid tent, Associate Dean of Harvard College Judith H. Kidd said that the tailgate was going “magnificently.”

A few incidences of underage drinking involving both Harvard and Yale students had taken place since the tailgate’s start, she said shortly before noon that day.

During the Game, there were a total of four arrests, Catalano said yesterday.

Two students were arrested for assault and battery against a police officer, and two others were arrested for indecent exposure after streaking across Harvard Stadium near the end of The Game.{SEE CORRECTION BELOW}

—Staff writer John R. Macartney can be reached at jmacartn@fas.harvard.edu.
—Staff writer Brittney L. Moraski can be reached at bmoraski@fas.harvard.edu.

CORRECTION

Four individuals were arrested during The Game—two for indecent exposure; two for charges including assault and battery against a police officer, resisting arrest, and disorderly conduct—but none of the four were Harvard affiliates. The Nov. 20 news article "College Pulls Off Tame Tailgate" incorrectly stated that two students were arrested that day. In fact, no Harvard or Yale students were arrested that day.