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Stadium Policies for Illinois Game

Not much to add here but I was not allowed to bring my empty capless water bottle in that I was going to fill at the water fountain. We should all feel a lot safer to have avoided the threat that bottle could have posed.

Collapsable water bottles in pockets are your friends.
 
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Game day experience is get worse every week. Today was Homecoming. The stadium should have been filled with Alumni. There was virtually nothing outside or inside of the stadium that acknowledged Homecoming. No Alma Matter, no alumni band, and no horse video. Our low carb snacks were also confiscated.

Rutgers has some loyal fans but seems be doing anything they can think of to alienate them.
 
That's a really good idea with the collapsible water bottle!

Not allowing an empty water bottle is proof that this is not a safety concern. It's clear that someone didn't study basic economics to understand that you get less revenue when you severely overprice things.
 
My son was stopped at the gate and he wasn't allowed in with his Capri sun juice box. I did smuggle in a bag of twizzlers under my sweatshirt; which the kids tossed in the air for the first time in 3 games. The Cookie Lady in Sect 107 was able to get her homemade cookies in too.
 
i have to agree with you, they're hoping for to force the fans to over pay at the concession stands, this is not a waay to make this program fan friendly, lets just see how many fannies are there for homecoming. if this keeps up we will be the temple of the big 10

We normally purchase water or a diet colas at the game. Since they decided they needed to confiscate our low carb bars (spouse has diabetes) we decided that we are not making any food or beverage purchases at the games.
 
Amazing that RU fans can smuggle in a concealed loaded pistol with no problem but the Security staff will confiscate your Italian hoagie and water bottle. And yet the RU Admin is telling us that hoagies and bottled water are a Security issue while they have no means of detecting metal handguns entering the stadium ?

They go on to say that MetLife Stadium allows food and water because they have metal detectors at the entrances.

RU also says that they value stadium security but refuse to invest in metal detectors at stadium entrances, even though they credit MetLife for providing those same metal detectors as the reason they allow food and drink to enter the stadium.

Is it me, or is RU playing their season ticket holder fanbase for suckers ?

50K fans attending an event at MetLife need metal detectors at the entrances but the same number of fans at HPSS don't need it ?

This ban on food and water at HPSS sounds like the latest version of the RU Screw to me. If Hobbs is the AD we hope he is, he will get in front of this issue and clarify RU's approach to stadium security and discuss the issues we have discussed here.
 
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It slayed me that there was a vendor giving away bags of snacks at the curb right in front of the main gate. When I went through the gate I said to the cop why is a vendor giving away snack food when you can't bring it in. He just rolled his eyes and said yeah I know.
 
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And the security guy at the top of 107-the old guy with a beard--is a cranky old jerk. Got tired of listening to him yelling at people for stupid stuff. My row cleared out in the 4th quarter, and during a TV Timeout, I laid down across the bench seat for just a moment to stretch out. He came down toward my row, about to yell at me, when I sat up in the row and started stretching.
Between the oppression during tailgating, the no outside water policy and some over aggressive security folks, I am reconsidering our season ticket purchase for next year.
 
And the security guy at the top of 107-the old guy with a beard--is a cranky old jerk. Got tired of listening to him yelling at people for stupid stuff. My row cleared out in the 4th quarter, and during a TV Timeout, I laid down across the bench seat for just a moment to stretch out. He came down toward my row, about to yell at me, when I sat up in the row and started stretching.
Between the oppression during tailgating, the no outside water policy and some over aggressive security folks, I am reconsidering our season ticket purchase for next year.
Where was he with that guy in 104 who kept picking up his 2 pre k daughters into the air basically the whole game, blocking the view everyone behind them. I could see when everyone is standing. But dude was playing airplane ride and other stuff you do at birthday parties or whatever, not football games.
 
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It slayed me that there was a vendor giving away bags of snacks at the curb right in front of the main gate. When I went through the gate I said to the cop why is a vendor giving away snack food when you can't bring it in. He just rolled his eyes and said yeah I know.
Atleast you got some empathy. The response my group got was "you're supposed to eat it out there before you come in."
 
And yes I thought it was funny that you couldnt bring in the same chips that they were selling for $4 inside.
 
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And the security guy at the top of 107-the old guy with a beard--is a cranky old jerk. Got tired of listening to him yelling at people for stupid stuff. My row cleared out in the 4th quarter, and during a TV Timeout, I laid down across the bench seat for just a moment to stretch out. He came down toward my row, about to yell at me, when I sat up in the row and started stretching.
Between the oppression during tailgating, the no outside water policy and some over aggressive security folks, I am reconsidering our season ticket purchase for next year.

Was he there for Michigan? I layed down at halftime and pretty much stayed like that until the cannon went off at the end.
 
Was he there for Michigan? I layed down at halftime and pretty much stayed like that until the cannon went off at the end.
Yup. He's real get off my lawn type of guy. Going to send a complaint about him to RU athletics, as he was pretty much irritating everyone in our row, and we are a pretty calm, well-behaved bunch.
 
I received an email reply this evening from Sarah.
  • She thanked me for my support and feedback and cc'd Pat Hobbs, Geoff Brown and Matt Colagiovanni in on the email.
  • she stated that Matt and Geoff were cc'd in because many of my points were things that they oversee
  • She promised to get together with Geoff and Matt to discuss the issues and to get back to me " with more information on where we can adjust, where we can't adjust " and give me more information to share with everyone I connect with on a daily basis.
I spoke to Geoff on Saturday at my tailgate and he promised to look into things as well. I sent him a follow up email this AM pointing out things from Saturday including food being given out in front of the stadium then having to be thrown out; the lack of a clear message on food not being allowed (including a photo of the sign at the West gate saying bottles not allowed and nothing about food).

there is a fan advisory meeting this week and I have given a list of these things to someone I know on the committee.

I am doing everything in my limited power to help get some changes or at least some information about the current changes.
 
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Game day experience is get worse every week. Today was Homecoming. The stadium should have been filled with Alumni. There was virtually nothing outside or inside of the stadium that acknowledged Homecoming. No Alma Matter, no alumni band, and no horse video. Our low carb snacks were also confiscated.

Rutgers has some loyal fans but seems be doing anything they can think of to alienate them.



homecoming is an embarrassment now, the school does zilch to promote it

and the horse video..well lets its just something stinks in Piscataway
 
A company pays Rutgers to be allowed to give out samples of their product to fans as they approach the stadium. Those fans then toss the samples in the trash. Company must be thrilled to be associated with us.
 
We normally purchase water or a diet colas at the game. Since they decided they needed to confiscate our low carb bars (spouse has diabetes) we decided that we are not making any food or beverage purchases at the games.
Dozens of communications to stripe the birthplace (red and black even though white is better than black for that sort of thing).. but little done for homecoming.

And the security aspect of the food/water policy is BS.. metal detector excuse now? What's a metal detector gonna do with a closed Poland Spring bottle? Its BS comments like that that show you security has nothing to do with it.
 
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Dozens of communications to stripe the birthplace (red and black even though white is better than black for that sort of thing).. but little done for homecoming.

And the security aspect of the food/water policy is BS.. metal detector excuse now? What's a metal detector gonna do with a closed Poland Spring bottle? Its BS comments like that that show you security has nothing to do with it.
In case you are not aware, Stripe the Birthplace was an Athletics initiative (Their budget and communications.) and Homecoming is primarily an Alumni Relations Dept. driven thing. You can probably place the blame of lack of Homecoming activities on President and Mrs. Barchi who have monopolized the manpower and dollars of Alumni Relations throwing their hosted event "R Family Fall Festival" which only accommodated about 400 people and you had to have a child registered with you to attend.

"Celebrate autumn at R Family Fall Festival, a fun and safe, substance-free opportunity to celebrate Homecoming Weekend at Rutgers University–New Brunswick. The event will feature breakfast and seasonal refreshments, a petting zoo, hay wagon rides (weather permitting), carnival games, bounce houses, and more.

Saturday, October 15
9 to 11:30 a.m.
Residence of Rutgers president Robert Barchi and Dr. Francis Barchi"
 
Dozens of communications to stripe the birthplace (red and black even though white is better than black for that sort of thing).. but little done for homecoming.

And the security aspect of the food/water policy is BS.. metal detector excuse now? What's a metal detector gonna do with a closed Poland Spring bottle? Its BS comments like that that show you security has nothing to do with it.

Bithplace striping always shows more with white.
 
In case you are not aware, Stripe the Birthplace was an Athletics initiative (Their budget and communications.) and Homecoming is primarily an Alumni Relations Dept. driven thing. You can probably place the blame of lack of Homecoming activities on President and Mrs. Barchi who have monopolized the manpower and dollars of Alumni Relations throwing their hosted event "R Family Fall Festival" which only accommodated about 400 people and you had to have a child registered with you to attend.

"Celebrate autumn at R Family Fall Festival, a fun and safe, substance-free opportunity to celebrate Homecoming Weekend at Rutgers University–New Brunswick. The event will feature breakfast and seasonal refreshments, a petting zoo, hay wagon rides (weather permitting), carnival games, bounce houses, and more.

Saturday, October 15
9 to 11:30 a.m.
Residence of Rutgers president Robert Barchi and Dr. Francis Barchi"
Amazing that Alumni Relations cannot work with the Athletic Department.
 
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What a bad experience for my 5-year old son to have his bag of Twizzlers pulled from him by the police upon entering. A clear bag with single Twizzlers and nothing else is clearly a security risk :-). I wrote Hobbs, hoping for a response.
 
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What a bad experience for my 5-year old son to have his bag of Twizzlers pulled from him by the police upon entering. A clear bag with single Twizzlers and nothing else is clearly a security risk :). I wrote Hobbs, hoping for a response.


Just prove again that it's all arbitrary depending on which gate you enter and which officer is doing the searching.
I knew I'd be checked, so I put all our extremely dangerous snacks and water bottles in the pockets of my 7-year-old son's sweatshirt. They didn't even give him a glance so we got the stuff in. Talk about inconsistent application of terrible rules.

Sorry you had to deal with this continuing utter nonsense.
 
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Just prove again that it's all arbitrary depending on which gate you enter and which officer is doing the searching.
I knew I'd be checked, so I put all our extremely dangerous snacks and water bottles in the pockets of my 7-year-old son's sweatshirt. They didn't even give him a glance so we got the stuff in.

Sorry you had to deal with this continuing utter nonsense.


In the email I sent to Geoff Brown yesterday I wrote: the stupidity of this whole thing is that without metal detectors we could all be bringing in guns in our jacket pockets. There is no way that factory sealed candy &/or water/Gatorade is a threat to anyone but Sodexo and it's profits.
 
ScarletR97 is on point. Homecoming is Alumni Relations driven. It has been for decades. That said, the involvement between and among Athletics, Alumni Relations, the volunteer Charter Orgs. and the Foundation has improved drastically over the last 20 years, whether it was announcing events being held, providing physical support, or logistics.

This year Alumni Relations and Athletics collaborated - can you say that word Shill? - to have the Rutgers Excellence in Alumni Leadership Awards presentation coincide with the Athletics Hall of Fame Dinner for the third or fourth year in a row.

But there are only so many events that can be held without some type of volunteer engagement. The biggest problem remains the lack of involvement of alumni in events. Student groups have been encouraged by the Administration to work with the alumni of their org. to develop programs and events as well. ... Which is what every other major college and university has been doing for years now. Yet we currently we have less than .03% - barely 1,500 to 1,750 total - of our alumni volunteering to support - that is, work - events that are sponsored throughout the State. And none of us who do actively work events are getting any younger.

Now, instead of complaining, post the type of events you want to have during Homecoming. I'm more than willing to promote them to Alumni Relations if they are reasonable. But be ready for me and Alumni Relations and Athletics to expect you to volunteer to support the event.
 
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Double alum here but don't really care about the Homecoming activities at this stage of my life - I'm rushing from soccer to get to the game. I care about being able to bring food/drink for my kid and not hand over my little bit of extra money on overpriced, lousy concessions.
 
When I brought my best friend to the Michigan game, he asked me if they had metal detectors. He lives in Philly and usually carries a tactical knife in case he gets mugged late at night. (He didn't bring the knife to the game, but I think he wore his wallet on a belt chain.)

And the RAC sports play during puffy winter coat season. A lot of those coats have deep pockets!



As for alumni volunteering on homecoming, they took away most opportunities for more alumni to get involved on game day. I remember when they had a big tent with all the alumni association tables giving out free stuff and signing up people for their mailing lists. I volunteered for the Cook table more than once because the opportunity was there. If they still had all the alumni associations involved, I would still be interested in working a table. Ask the higher-ups in the alumni association and athletic department to add more game day actvities for homecoming.
 
As for alumni volunteering on homecoming, they took away most opportunities for more alumni to get involved on game day. I remember when they had a big tent with all the alumni association tables giving out free stuff and signing up people for their mailing lists. I volunteered for the Cook table more than once because the opportunity was there. If they still had all the alumni associations involved, I would still be interested in working a table. Ask the higher-ups in the alumni association and athletic department to add more game day actvities for homecoming.

Actually, the RUAA did not take away the opportunities. Those events wound up being canceled due to lack of volunteers. Handing out the chachkies isn't what is being discussed. The events in question are:
  • the alumni parade down College Ave. which was moved to Alumni Weekend,
  • the ghost tour which did not have any volunteers to give the accounts of the haunted spots of New Brunswick,
  • the Young Alumni Bar Tour on Friday,
  • the Wings Bowl which did not have enough volunteers to work the event,
  • the "Rock, Paper, Scissors Tournament", and
  • the big loss which was the "Run for RAH" that was canceled for Sunday morning because of the transferral of the Rutgers Against Hunger management to the SEBS/NJAES Dean's Office so close to the start of the new academic year.
If the RUAA isn't able to draw in volunteers, they aren't going to be able to run the events. It is that simple. This is no different than the struggles that the Charter Organizations have on a regular basis trying to host events.
 
Just prove again that it's all arbitrary depending on which gate you enter and which officer is doing the searching.
I knew I'd be checked, so I put all our extremely dangerous snacks and water bottles in the pockets of my 7-year-old son's sweatshirt. They didn't even give him a glance so we got the stuff in. Talk about inconsistent application of terrible rules.

Sorry you had to deal with this continuing utter nonsense.

Is this a picture of your gate attendant?
AnimalHouse_167Pyxurz.jpg
 
Actually, the RUAA did not take away the opportunities. Those events wound up being canceled due to lack of volunteers. Handing out the chachkies isn't what is being discussed. The events in question are:
  • the alumni parade down College Ave. which was moved to Alumni Weekend,
  • the ghost tour which did not have any volunteers to give the accounts of the haunted spots of New Brunswick,
  • the Young Alumni Bar Tour on Friday,
  • the Wings Bowl which did not have enough volunteers to work the event,
  • the "Rock, Paper, Scissors Tournament", and
  • the big loss which was the "Run for RAH" that was canceled for Sunday morning because of the transferral of the Rutgers Against Hunger management to the SEBS/NJAES Dean's Office so close to the start of the new academic year.
If the RUAA isn't able to draw in volunteers, they aren't going to be able to run the events. It is that simple. This is no different than the struggles that the Charter Organizations have on a regular basis trying to host events.

Granted I don't always read all of the RU emails that come, how does one sign up for these types of things if they wanted to? Do you have to already belong to one of the subgroups/orgs to get solicited to help? is it a blanket thing you register to do through RUAA? something else?
 
Granted I don't always read all of the RU emails that come, how does one sign up for these types of things if they wanted to? Do you have to already belong to one of the subgroups/orgs to get solicited to help? is it a blanket thing you register to do through RUAA? something else?

Several of the Chartered Orgs. such as the RAA, Cook, Livingston, UC, and Mason Gross Alumni groups will always look for individuals to become active. However, you can also connect with the RUAA through the following link:

http://www.alumni.rutgers.edu/s/896/index.aspx?sid=896&gid=1&pgid=641

This is the Volunteer Interest Form. A variety of volunteer options are also listed on this page:

http://www.alumni.rutgers.edu/s/896/2col.aspx?sid=896&gid=1&pgid=645

Feel free to let me know if you have specific areas of interest or specific colleges and I'll be happy to connect you with the right person as well.
 
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ScarletR97 is on point. Homecoming is Alumni Relations driven. It has been for decades. That said, the involvement between and among Athletics, Alumni Relations, the volunteer Charter Orgs. and the Foundation has improved drastically over the last 20 years, whether it was announcing events being held, providing physical support, or logistics.

This year Alumni Relations and Athletics collaborated - can you say that word Shill? - to have the Rutgers Excellence in Alumni Leadership Awards presentation coincide with the Athletics Hall of Fame Dinner for the third or fourth year in a row.

But there are only so many events that can be held without some type of volunteer engagement. The biggest problem remains the lack of involvement of alumni in events. Student groups have been encouraged by the Administration to work with the alumni of their org. to develop programs and events as well. ... Which is what every other major college and university has been doing for years now. Yet we currently we have less than .03% - barely 1,500 to 1,750 total - of our alumni volunteering to support - that is, work - events that are sponsored throughout the State. And none of us who do actively work events are getting any younger.

Now, instead of complaining, post the type of events you want to have during Homecoming. I'm more than willing to promote them to Alumni Relations if they are reasonable. But be ready for me and Alumni Relations and Athletics to expect you to volunteer to support the event.
We travel over an hour to get to the games. We could care less about fund raising dinners or any other on campus events. The only homecoming events that are of interest to many of us are the ones that are offered prior to the football game. The lack of volunteers is indicative of the lack of alumni engagement. Alumni Relations might try going back to having tables from each school with people available to talk to alumni instead of one booth full of hat police. They could try having some decent entertainment at the pregame. The only contact we have had with Alumni Relations is the receipt of the fairly boring periodical and their asking for money.
 
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Actually, the RUAA did not take away the opportunities. Those events wound up being canceled due to lack of volunteers. Handing out the chachkies isn't what is being discussed. The events in question are:
  • the alumni parade down College Ave. which was moved to Alumni Weekend,
  • the ghost tour which did not have any volunteers to give the accounts of the haunted spots of New Brunswick,
  • the Young Alumni Bar Tour on Friday,
  • the Wings Bowl which did not have enough volunteers to work the event,
  • the "Rock, Paper, Scissors Tournament", and
  • the big loss which was the "Run for RAH" that was canceled for Sunday morning because of the transferral of the Rutgers Against Hunger management to the SEBS/NJAES Dean's Office so close to the start of the new academic year.
If the RUAA isn't able to draw in volunteers, they aren't going to be able to run the events. It is that simple. This is no different than the struggles that the Charter Organizations have on a regular basis trying to host events.
The RUAA is not able to draw volunteers because they are not engaging alumni in a meaningful way. Personally, I identify with the school I attended and not a large amorphous group of strangers. Rock, Paper Scissors Tournament, who was the genius that thought that on up?
 
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