Tailgate deemed a disappointment

Strict policies and bad weather left the student body unimpressed with Towson’s homecoming tailgate on Saturday.

Policies put into action for last year’s tailgating, and continued for this year, included a ban on underage drinking, a limit of one six-pack of beer per person, and exclusion of glass bottles and liquor. Drinking games are also prohibited. 

Seniors Kelly Schlemo and Lucy Brin had originally planned to go to College Park to celebrate University of Maryland’s homecoming, but thought they should attend their own homecoming instead. Both students said they regretted celebrating with Towson.

“Towson is not that big of a school to be able to give out rules like that to us,” Brin said. “If they want to be as big as Maryland, they have to be more lenient with the kids and be able to let us do what we want to do. I wish I went to College Park today.”

Junior Lauren Wilson tried to enjoy the tailgate as much as she could but found it to be very difficult with the lack of student attendance. Wilson also said that she does not think students should be able to do whatever they want at tailgating, but the school should give them a little more slack.

“I think it would have been a lot of fun if it wasn’t for the bad weather,” Wilson said. “I mean I don’t agree with the policies, but I know they are trying to look out for our best interests. They [the policies] are still kind of dumb, though.”

Just to enter the tailgating areas, students had to show two forms of identification and be searched to make sure they were not trying to enter with “excessive amounts of alcohol” as determined by event staff.

“They were really strict when I came in,” Schlemo said. “They had to double check all of us and they asked to see my I.D. twice just to let us in here where nothing is even going on. It really does suck.”

Many students felt the same way as they stared into the empty lot that should have been holding hundreds of Towson students. Senior Troy Stockinger agreed there would be a lot more school spirit if the rules for tailgating weren’t so strict. 

“Towson wants to expand their sports events to the size of Maryland’s, but then they add all these policies and rules and that’s not why college kids come to football games,” Stockinger said. “They come to the football games for the tailgating experience and I don’t think you get that at Towson.”

Associate vice president for campus life Teri Hall felt that tailgating overall was a success. Hall mentioned that the tailgating area was easily cleaned and that student attendance was fairly high.

“One of the ways we judge on how tailgating goes is how fast the lot was cleared and how clean it is when people go into the games,” Hall said. “And this year we had the lot clean by four o’clock.”

Hall also said that the tailgating policies are there to help students stay as safe as possible. 

She also mentioned that the rules really aren’t new to the school.

“The no drinking games and those kinds of rules have been a part of our policy for the last five or six years,” Hall said. 

“And the one six pack per student rule is a recommendation rather than a harden fast rule.”

Hall added that all the rules are simply to help the students, not hurt them.

Capt. Joe Herring of the Towson University Police believes that most students do their best to work with the policies.  

“The mass majority of tailgaters, if not all, have the best intentions to comply and they attempt to comply [with the tailgate policies],” Capt. Herring said.

Many students agreed that the weather played a small part in ruining the tailgate, but the policies take away the college experience.

“All I can say is that as an institution we have to make sure that we have the right policies and procedures in place to make sure that our students are safe, and to make sure that we are protecting our institution from liability,” Hall said. 

“That’s why we have the rules that we do for tailgating.”