Where do you see yourself on September 10, 2016? It’s the first of seven home football games for the LSU Tigers in Death Valley. You picture the sights and sounds. The fireworks going off as the Mad Hatter leaves the tunnel and 103,000 people are ready to watch Leonard Fournette. But something is missing. There is not the typical energy and excitement built up over 10 months bellowing from the LSU student section.
On September 10, LSU Administration is planning to unveil one of their new plans to “increase student safety and accountability.” We understand, things get rowdy on Saturday’s in Baton Rouge, but the presented tailgating regulations are inadequately groomed and ill prepared. Students have every right to know of these unfeasible and impractical methods the Dean of Students’ office is attempting to impose on our student organizations.
All student organizations — from religious groups to fraternities to the Quidditch team — that want to coordinate tailgating festivities will have to register a “space” within a certain number of days prior to kickoff. Let’s evaluate this situation. What happens when the spaces “run out”? Are you then not allowed to have any sort of tailgate as LSU fans have been accustomed since the inception of tailgating? What if a family sets up in your tailgating “space?” Now you can’t relocate because you will be in violation of the tailgating regulations. These new “reserved spots” will make groups responsible for anything that might happen in that area. Will this increase safety or increase consequences that will burden these student organizations trying to follow these new regulations?
Additionally, in the proposed tailgating regulations, the Dean of Students’ office is also proposing to have a single beer vendor located near the Parade Ground. Student organizations will be required to pay for a third party vendor, costing well over $500 per game, and individually purchase alcohol from this location, regardless of whether or not members of the organization are of legal age to purchase their own alcohol as they please. That’s not even accounting that LSU currently only has a single approved alcohol vendor, All-Star Catering. Is that one vendor expected to serve 400+ organizations? We highly doubt it.
Has anyone on the Tailgating Committee realized how impractical these “options” are? Waiting to use a portable bathroom in this area takes approximately 20 minutes minimum, and now they want all of the students involved with a Student Organization to sit in an even longer line to get beverages? How many workers do they expect to satisfy the demand of thousands of people in line? Who is supposed to pay for all of this? Will the cost be covered by LSU or shoved on the student orgs? Is LSU expecting to reap profits earned from this sale? If so, that’s a whole other minefield of ethical issues.
If you are bewildered about these potential set of changes, then you have read them correctly. LSU will force students to report where they will be mingling with friends and classmates and they will attempt to monitor the food and beverages you consume. This is going to ultimately lead to students trying to circumnavigate these rules in order to have fun (i.e. chugging copious amounts of liquor before setting out for the Parade Ground, leaving the Parade Ground ever so often to consume alcohol at a hastened rate meanwhile crossing busy streets drunker than ever before, etc.). This is going to lead to more student harm than student safety.
The changes aren’t without cause, however. Any change that could improve the safety of all students on game day ought be considered, however the burden and responsibility ultimately lies on the individual students and their peers. If you want to receive the respect of a mature college student, then act like one. Don’t be afraid to tell your friends when they’ve had too much and display and inspire the maturity in others to know when they’ve reached their own limit.
The main problem is the drastic amount of changes the Administration wants to impose without making smaller, more effective changes first. We understand these are just ideas, but these ideas need to be fully developed to make them even feasible before being pushed forward. Instead of working with student organizations in a way that could foster a positive and beneficial relationship between both parties, they are instead opting to change an LSU tradition — a tradition that is carried on by students and parents, the old and the young, the season ticket holder and the first time Death Valley attendee. It’s a cultural way of life that has been ingrained in every person that loves purple and lives gold, and it is the reason students fall in love with Louisiana State University under the Stately Oaks each Fall.
LSU students, make your opinions heard. Contact your friends and your student organizations, and make them aware of the impending changes to a tradition that is a memorable part of their collegiate career. You are encouraged to take the student survey from the Dean of Students Office (http://studentvoice.com/lsu/tailgatingpractices). Talk to your friends and classmates on the LSU Football team and see how they feel about a tradition being tainted.
On September 10 when we play Jacksonville State, it could be a very different Game Day for LSU Tiger Fans unless we rally together behind a common goal. Every student, even those not in an organization, needs to come together and be as loud about this issue as they are on the 4th quarter in Death Valley. While this plan may fail, Administration has officially leveled its gaze at one of our favorite parts of being an LSU student.
We work far too hard during the week to have this taken away from us. Cheers to Gameday.
– Concerned Students and Organizations

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Emily Brauner

A committee from the LSU Dean of Students' office held a meeting on Wednesday, April 3, 2016, for students to voice their opinions on possible changes to the University's tailgating policies.