PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) – Joining colleges around the country trying to tackle excessive student drinking, a Brown University committee is recommending increased security at large events, and looking at ways to curb pre-party drinking in dorms.

The committee of students and staff began meeting after a “SexPowerGod” party at the Ivy League school in mid-November was surreptitiously videotaped and brought national attention, including criticism from conservative TV pundit Bill O’Reilly.

Though alcohol was not served at the party, the event was nonetheless “connected to excessive pre-party drinking” and a “large number of students required medical attention,” according to the executive summary of the report.

“The problem is actually fairly concentrated. It’s not a great number of students” who put themselves at risk, said David Greene, the Brown vice president of campus life and student services, who received the report this week.

“So part of this is really identifying where the problem exists and being able to go after it,” he said.

The recommendations, which will be shared with students and campus officials, include using professional security for parties with 300 or more guests, offering the use of metal detectors to campus groups, and creating more space on campus for smaller social gatherings.

Changing the campus culture can be challenging when students are “pre-gaming,” or drinking in private before leaving for a party, Greene said.

“If you are simply dealing with how you serve alcohol at parties where alcohol is served, then there are lots of things you can do to address it,” he said. “But when you’re dealing with behavior that takes place in private, it makes it much more difficult to find a solution to the problem.”

Other schools have tried to curb alcohol abuse. The University of Massachusetts, for instance, recently banned drinking games at its Amherst campus and imposed other restrictions that took effect this semester.

Henry Wechsler, director of College Alcohol Studies at the Harvard University School of Public Health, said that while there was no single way to prevent excessive drinking on campus, it helps to make alcohol more expensive and inaccessible for students.

He said colleges would have to employ a “full-scale effort” to get at the problem.

“This is so long-standing and deeply entrenched on the college scene that it’s going to take a lot of action over a lot of years to turn it around,” Wechsler said.