The chancellor approved a proposal Monday that the Football Task Force recommended after several meetings throughout the semester, including the extension of tailgating hours from four to five.
The proposal also included the Task Force’s responsibility to ensure that three programs to better the environment at the lots are implemented, and to remove the requirement that tents be flame-retardant because they are hard to come by in tent sizes typically used for tailgating.
“The changes made in 2006 worked well toward our goal of a more positive atmosphere surrounding Wolfpack football games,” the chancellor’s letter to the Task Force read. “I am confident the changes for 2007 will continue our progress…and I have no plans to reconvene the Football Task Force next year.”
According to Tom Stafford, vice chancellor for student affairs and co-chair of the Task Force, the chancellor did not make any revisions in the proposal.
“He accepted the recommendations on the condition that certain things are in place at the beginning of the football season,” he said.
Stafford said these conditions are that three programs are implemented before the season begins. One is the Campus Police Initiative, in which officers work with the Greek organizations on campus to improve the tailgating lots’ environment.
The second initiative is a new program previous Student Body President Will Quick and other students proposed, which the Task Force refers to as the “ambassadors program,” composed of a group of people who will be available at football games to ensure a welcoming and friendly atmosphere at the games for all parties.
And the third is a program that falls under the leadership of Chris Austin from the Student Health Center, according to Stafford. It is an alcohol-awareness program that the University will require all incoming freshman to undergo.
“As long as we’re able to get these programs in place by the fall, it’ll be a safe and fun year for tailgating,” Quick, a member of the Task Force, said.
According to Quick, it’s “high time” that the University implemented programs like the ambassadors program, which Quick said Clemson University has done successfully.
“I met with [Associate Athletics Director] Dick Christy and [Associate Vice Chancellor for Environmental Health and Public Safety] David Rainer last Friday to start planning some of it,” he said. “I look forward to being a part of it.”
Quick said the chancellor appointed Christy and Stafford to lead a committee detailing the ambassadors program Monday, and that so far, ideas have just been thrown around and the initial planning process has not yet started.
“A lot of people have to be recruited to help plan it, but not only help plan it, but put it into place,” Stafford said. “We don’t know how many we need. It could be 20 to 30.”
Bobby Mills, student body president and member of the Task Force, said he has been in contact with students from Ohio State University and others to get an idea of what purpose their ambassadors programs serve.
According to Mills, a sophomore in political science, the program, which doesn’t have an official name yet at N.C. State, is referred to as the “sportsmanship initiative” at other universities.
“It’s supposed to help the atmosphere at football games,” he said.
Quick said he is optimistic of the committee’s ability to begin these programs before the season starts.
“We can get them going and them started,” he said. “I think they’ll evolve as we sort of learn what works and what doesn’t work.”
Stafford said once the committee for the ambassadors program gets to work, it needs to figure out what the ambassadors are going to serve as, how to make them identifiable and visible and how to educate game attendees about the group and their purpose “so people will know what they are out there for and respond to them in a positive way.”
Although Stafford said he does not see the possibility of extending the number of tailgating hours to more than five over the years “assuming this is what happens in the fall,” Quick remained optimistic.
“It’s a possibility [to extend the hours over time],” he said. “As a University and as a Wolfpack family, if we show that things are safer and they’re fun, we do have a chance of getting them extended more. But I think we do need to show that first.”
Mills said at five hours, NCSU has more tailgating hours than most schools and though he doesn’t think the five will increase next year, it is a possibility for the future.
“We’re still kind of a reactive group,” he said. “We’ll see what other universities do.”
Although the Football Task Force discussed what to do with passouts in some meetings throughout the semester, that issue was not included in the proposal for any change.
