Tailgating rules extreme

October 31, 2005 —

The new tailgating guidelines imposed by the University, which outlaw the use of "games of entertainment" - or more specifically, beer pong - and "implements which encourage excessive alcohol" - beer bongs - have been met with widespread student criticism. First imposed for the Oct. 8 Homecoming game, the guidelines have made quite an impact on student tailgating in the Ryder Center parking lot. Witnessing the atmosphere before a home game in September and before Saturday's game was like night and day, and proved that the guidelines are the most extreme of solutions that could have been used to solve a problem that may not even exist.

The first question that must be asked is how bad, exactly, tailgating was earlier in the season. According to administration members, it was deplorable. According to students, it was not anything worse than can be witnessed at other universities. We would like to think it was somewhere in between.

At his open forum held on Oct. 17, President Eric R. Gilbertson mentioned that there had been complaints - from both students and other fans - of drunken students not only tailgating, but in the student section as well. For students to complain about their peers being too drunk certainly should be a wake-up call to those arguing drinking is not a problem during tailgating.

But were things really that bad? Maybe they were. University Police Sergeant Bethany K. Rusch recounted a drunken student taking a drink, vomiting from being too drunk, and then immediately proceeding to continue drinking. At the open forum, a student told of some students literally needing to be helped into the game because they were too drunk to walk on their own. Gilbertson added at the forum that there had been complaints by Grand Valley fans sitting next to the SVSU student section that drunken Cardinals fans were much too out of hand in Allendale. Finally, an SVSU cheerleader claimed that an empty glass bottle of alcohol was thrown at the SVSU Cheer Team ... by an SVSU student.

That, however, does not mean there are not other solutions. There are several other options to cut down on the impact tailgating seems to be having.

If there are complaints about fans having to walk through the tailgating section, then the tailgating section should be moved. One option would be to R-Lot, by the Fitness Center entrance of the Ryder Center. Not only is there a walkway to Wickes Stadium from this lot, it goes right by the SVSU locker room. This would energize SVSU fans and football players alike. To enforce this guideline, University Police would need to prevent any tailgating or student drinking from occurring in the Ryder Center parking lot. Finally, to park in the lot, each car would be charged $5, similar to a policy at Central Michigan University. We would imagine that is a much smaller chunk on change than students are paying for alcohol.

To prevent students from getting themselves too intoxicated, there needs to be some policing done - not just from University Police and Stadium staff, but from students as well. Thinking back to the example of students having to help others into the stadium, maybe those students should have stopped their friends from drinking several hours beforehand. At the same time, University Police - who seem to be fully behind these new guidelines - and Stadium staff should not allow such students to enter the Stadium in the first place. If it is such a black eye to the University to have drunken students being obnoxious in the student section, then University staff should be the ones preventing those same students from ever entering the game.

It was not coincidental that in the second home game since these guidelines were enforced, the student section certainly looked bare compared to games in September. For such a big game against a big opponent like Michigan Tech, the student section should have been full. Instead, new tailgating guidelines seem to have caused students to stop coming. As unfortunate a reason that may be, the two seem to be directly related. There are other possible, not as extreme solutions available, and those should be exhausted first before a last resort is used.