In addition to Dingman’s email, the day before River Run, Hammonds published an op-ed in The Crimson—only her third in her three years as dean and her first piece published alone—warning of the dangers of binge drinking and touting the College’s success in mitigating out of control drinking at this year’s Harvard-Yale tailgate.

In the op-ed, Hammonds made no mention of the following night’s potential for risky activities. Instead she defended the College’s policies regarding alcohol at the Harvard-Yale tailgate which, though unchanged from previous years, some students deemed restrictive.

“The lesson of The Game is that the development of a clear, consistently enforced policy can have a dramatic and positive effect on the problem of dangerous drinking and on student life at Harvard,” Hammonds wrote. “Since 2006, this approach—modified to allow House Committees to bring beer and wine into the tailgating area—has contributed to a change in College culture.”

As reflected in Hammonds’ op-ed, the College’s efforts to prevent unsafe drinking habits are often motivated by an intent to educate the student body.

The College’s response to the obsession for the alcoholic and caffeinated drink Four Loko that swept across American colleges and made its way to Harvard this past fall is representative of that effort.

Before states across the nation passed laws that placed restrictions on the sale of caffeinated alcoholic beverages, College officials informed undergraduates about the dangers of Four Loko in an email.

The message warned of blackouts, severe dehydration, increased heart rate and blood pressure, and alcohol poisoning that could result from alcoholic drinks with stimulants.

One senior says that the novelty of Four Loko, coupled with its forbidden nature, increased its appeal to Harvard students.

While Lowell tutor Christian M. Lane recognized the dangers of Four Loko, he says that the warnings had also drawn attention to the drink.

“Because it had been made an issue everybody then needed to experience it,” Lane said, adding that he didn’t think the drink had much else going for it.

A GROWING TREND

Despite the College’s efforts to create a safe and legal drinking culture at Harvard, UHS admittance numbers, increasing HUPD alcohol-related incident responses, and student accounts all show that dangerous drinking continues to be a problem on campus.

Over the past three years, admittances to UHS for alcohol-related sickness have been rising. In February 2010, Director of the Office of Alcohol and Other Drug Services Ryan M. Travia predicted alcohol-related admittances to UHS would reach 200 for the 2009-2010 academic year.

Recently, Travia has repeatedly declined to release alcohol-related UHS numbers to The Crimson. But, in a meeting for residential tutors in January, Hammonds and University Provost Steven E. Hyman presented the figures for the 2010 fall semester.

Admittances to UHS for alcohol-related sickness had nearly reached the entire total for the 2009-2010 academic year by the end of the 2010-2011 fall semester, according to tutors in the meeting.