Dartmouth College banned the game water pong in some residence halls early this month, claiming the game - a variant of beer pong - has caused property damages and poses health risks related to the over-consumption of water.
Water pong, a version of the drinking game beer pong that substitutes water for alcohol, is an "esteemed tradition to prepare wet-behind-the-ears freshmen for the 'big leagues,' " said Dartmouth senior Nathan Raines.
Dartmouth officials have expressed concern about the game.
"The issue of water pong came up in a particular location early this January," wrote Marty Redman, Dartmouth's dean of residential life, in an e-mail to The Herald. "In an all-first-year facility, students decided to put the study tables together in a study room to play water pong," he wrote.
According to Redman, students ignored e-mails from administrators and caused serious damage to Dartmouth facilities playing the game.
"We now have to have the tables refinished due to water damage and (hire) custodial staff to spend extra time cleaning the space," Redman wrote. "The situation continued, and in order to address damage issues and other students' complaints, the building staff decided to ban water pong in the study room location."
Yet the main source of controversy among students stems from officials' expressed concern about health risks. In an early February e-mail alerting students to the new policy, Kristin Deal, community director for two of Dartmouth's freshmen dorms, cited overhydration as a risk associated with the game. She also included a link to a CNN article titled, "Woman drinks so much water she dies," which reported on a woman from California who died during a "Hold Your Wee for a Wii" contest.
Deal declined to comment for this article.
Many students doubted that overhydration was a plausible risk. In the weeks after the ban, the Dartmouth, the college's student newspaper, ran editorials criticizing and mocking the notion of the health risk. Water pong rarely involves actually drinking the water, they said.
Raines was dubious about the perceived risk of overhydration from the game. "I mean, there's the whole idea of overhydration messing with your sodium ion concentrations in your body that has proved fatal in the past, but it's a negligible risk," he said.
Alcohol researchers say the risks associated with over-consumption of water are relatively serious and not well-known. "Consuming as little as three liters within an hour can constitute a risk. ... You can die from drinking water, and people don't know that," said Professor of Psychiatry and Human Behavior Robert Swift, associate director of Brown's Center for Alcohol and Addiction Studies. Swift said determining whether water pong at Dartmouth constituted a serious risk is hard to say, but "the fact is, students on college campuses die from water consumption."
Swift added that education is the best solution to substance abuse in general. "The best strategy is to educate and work with the students. Brown does an exceptionally good job of educating students about potential hazards and providing them with information. That's the primary thing," he said.
But Redman seemed primarily concerned with facility damage and disruptive behavior. "This particular residential facility has been plagued with high damage bills this year as the result of the behavior of some of the residents ... all we wanted is to have students use the space responsibly," he wrote.
Redman said things have calmed down since the water pong ban. "We've seen positive progress in other areas. Disruptive behavior and behavior that was causing damage to property has declined compared to the earlier part of the term," he wrote. "Is there a cause and effect? I'm not certain, but the action by the staff and the conversations that have taken place since then (seem) to be having a positive impact."
Whatever the reason for the ban, Raines doubts it will change student attitudes toward water pong's much beloved cousin - beer pong. "Despite all its thrills as a proving ground for one's athletic prowess, pong's popularity is due completely and entirely to the fact that people like to get drunk," Raines told The Herald.
