Which lot are they putting the students in?
- Thread starter bac2therac
- Start date
I saw a tailgate of about 40 students in the Yellow Lot. The cops eventually made an appearance and checked IDs, and nobody was taken away. They gave a 40-something dude a hard time about something he was apparently doing wrong, since he appeared to be the host of the tailgate, or at least had the tailgate immediately across from the vehicle that had the mass quantity of beer that the students were happily consuming. It appeared that the tailgate went from about 15 students to about 40 once the word spread that there was beer flowing. I knew they'd be late to their seats.
Actually I think the fraternities were moved to a different area outside of the Blue Lot. Last year someone put up a schematic on where they were.
There was nothing going on near Werblin.
I know a few students and the reality is that they now all do the tailgates/pregames at the frat houses over on college ave. Therefore a lot fewer students actually end up attending the game (getting on a bus after partying) or end up getting there at the second quarter.
I know a few students and the reality is that they now all do the tailgates/pregames at the frat houses over on college ave. Therefore a lot fewer students actually end up attending the game (getting on a bus after partying) or end up getting there at the second quarter.
Really? Because the student section was completely packed on Saturday. So I'd say this is pretty much just wrong.
Not to mention the fact that there are 30,000ish students in New Brunswick / Piscataway and the ideal that "they all do the tailgate/pregames at the frat houses over on college ave." is... ya know... mathematically stupid.
Clearly the attempt to move the students to Werblin is a major fail. I know they tried this last year too and there were literally zero students .
Yeah the student section was packed for 3 quarters. It was mass exodus after the 3rd when we had the game locked up... I agree with 4real.
So the student section was still packed and weren't ruining everybody else's tailgates?
Sounds like a win for RU to me.
Sounds like a win for RU to me.
I'm just giving you the information from the mouths of the actual students. Yes they did a great job in showing up in hot weather against a no-name opponent at noon. Everyone was pleased with the student turnout.
But the entire student section was not utilized and a few sections were completely empty for nearly 3/4 the game.
The sections in black are held for students. Sections 132-133 & 142-141 were bare most of the game. Especially in the first quarter. So I wouldn't say it the student section was completely full.
But the entire student section was not utilized and a few sections were completely empty for nearly 3/4 the game.
The sections in black are held for students. Sections 132-133 & 142-141 were bare most of the game. Especially in the first quarter. So I wouldn't say it the student section was completely full.
131 is the young alumni section. 132 was often sold if students didn't use the whole allotment but it ended up being mixed for the big games or empty for games like this past Sat.
Part of the reason these sections don't fill up is that obviously students stand the whole game and probably squeeze in 4 people for every 3 actual seats. So that condenses the crowd a bit more, which I don't mind at all.
Part of the reason these sections don't fill up is that obviously students stand the whole game and probably squeeze in 4 people for every 3 actual seats. So that condenses the crowd a bit more, which I don't mind at all.
RU is doing everything they can to ruin student tailgates. I was in between two attempted frat tailgates on Saturday in the blue lot and cops swarmed both of them and must've handed out 8 underage drinking tickets. They weren't even being loud and even if they were I would've had no problem with it. It was a part of my college experience and it should be for them as well. The police presence is really a downer these days. I can't stand that they are doing this to the students and is a surefire way to get students to alienate the games entirely. Also historically, the first game of the year is always a good showing for the student section no matter who the opponent so that shouldn't be a valid argument. RU needs to find a designated lot for students and allow them to have their own area where cops won't badger them the whole time. I really wanted to say something to the cops that were giving the students all kinds of headaches.
+1. Posted in another thread that I noticed this happen as well to a couple of nearby tailgates. The cops even approached the same ones multiple times presumably in order to check IDS (they certainly weren't loud or being a nuisance to anybody else).
Hosting a 'dry' tailgate outside Werblin for students, many of whom are traveling from College Avenue to begin with, is pointless and unrealistic. Even though it was the first game of the season (traditionally very well-attended by students) and the weather was beautiful, the student section was not packed out. The atmosphere (at least in the Blue Lot), was noticeably subdued in comparison to years past.
The solution is fairly simple to me: either establish an area within a 5-minute walk of the stadium (or 10 minutes from River Road bus stops) where fraternities and students can tailgate and party by themselves, or lay off on the overly aggressive policing in all the lots (unless parties begin intruding into neighboring tailgates, cause fights, etc.). If you don't agree with either option, then either propose a doable alternative or be prepared to accept a generally reduced student presence, or in cases of big games large numbers of them showing up bombed and going straight into the stadium sometime after kickoff.
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I have no evidence for this but I would assume 50% of the students in attendance for Norfolk State were freshman. It's their first week on campus. They are not part of the frat row scene yet. they do everything together. And were excited for their first game. As the season wears on that novelty will wear off.
I encourage any student that has a Busch campus dorm and a chill RA to host a pregame party at their dorm. Then with an hour till kickoff kick everyone out and walk to the stadium, lock the door behind you and don't look back.
If you're hosting a party on college Ave do the same. At some point kick everyone out and force them to go home or go to the game.
PS bring flasks into the stadium and utilize your meal plan to get sodas to mix it with.
I encourage any student that has a Busch campus dorm and a chill RA to host a pregame party at their dorm. Then with an hour till kickoff kick everyone out and walk to the stadium, lock the door behind you and don't look back.
If you're hosting a party on college Ave do the same. At some point kick everyone out and force them to go home or go to the game.
PS bring flasks into the stadium and utilize your meal plan to get sodas to mix it with.
RUskii and Andman get it. You can't harass the students in the lots. Heck even as a paying season ticket holder I chose the Purple lot over the Blue lot the last two years with the over bearing police presence being one of the reasons (among others). But nobody wants to be tailgating where the cops keep causing a stir, even if its not your group doing anything wrong. It's just a distraction to everyone's good time.
The student section was not packed in the first quarter.In fact I doubt there were 3000 fans in the stadium at 11:30 am.
I'm curious as to what part of "underage drinking is illegal" doesn't resonate with some of you guys.
Disappointing that Rutgers hasn't been able to figure this out. The fenced in area around Werblin last year was never utilized - why would they try this again? Students should be able to tailgate without being harassed by the cops (as long as they are behaving).
Rutgers had a very good tailgate scene but with the loss of students it's going to take a hit.
Also the fact that students are now staying on College ave at Frats/Houses for tailgating is bound to create more issues/risks than if they tailgated on Busch where Cops and EMT's are everywhere. So students are now going to attend unsupervised pre-game tailgates all over New Brunswick and then make the treck over to Busch. So this means they'll be walking all through the streets on game days while intoxicated to go fetch a bus to Busch.
Rutgers had a very good tailgate scene but with the loss of students it's going to take a hit.
Also the fact that students are now staying on College ave at Frats/Houses for tailgating is bound to create more issues/risks than if they tailgated on Busch where Cops and EMT's are everywhere. So students are now going to attend unsupervised pre-game tailgates all over New Brunswick and then make the treck over to Busch. So this means they'll be walking all through the streets on game days while intoxicated to go fetch a bus to Busch.
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The key bit being exactly that.
There have been student tailgates that I've seen in the Blue lot which have been perfectly well behaved. Unfortunately, they tend to get overshadowed by the "tailgates" that consist of 100 people with no food, massive quantities of alcohol, ear-splitting music and drunks barfing on people's cars.
The former would be well tolerated. The latter would not. It's the last group that ruined it for everyone else - not the administration, not the boosters, not the old folks in the Blue lot. The idiots have nobody to blame for the current situation but themselves.
Actually, people like you can share a good amount of the blame. I argued with you and a few others over this topic last year. Here's a refresher: You all complained after the PSU game that students in the Blue lot were out of control (never mind that EVERYONE was jacked up because it was an 8pm kick against a hated rival and our 1st B1G game). So you and several others emailed the AD with a solution for more cops and to move the students out...and you guys got both. A few weeks later the cops started bothering the complainers to move their tailgate tents and entire tailgate setup and became quite a nuisance. Anyone remember that? That was well documented here. Militarized golf cart style police vehicles increased in the lots, cops handed out more tickets and started looking to hand out tickets for anything instead of just standing there as a reminder to people to behave. Students tailgates were shutdown immediately...so how did the students respond? They stopped coming and started hosting parties in their houses on College Ave. I noticed this change for the last two home games; Wisconsin we had no student section (okay fine piss poor weather) and we had a small one for Indiana.
For years the RU community has worked to get people into the stadium on time (especially the students in the Blue lot) remember them blowing the horn at 60, 48 and 20 minutes before kickoff to remind everyone? Now you guys think the students are going to be in the stadium on time when they have to bus it over from Wyckoff Street, Delafield Street or wherever they're getting drunk? No shot. They stay home and watch it. That was also documented on these boards.
The student setup in Weblin was a failure, as was the green lot area in 2013. For the life of me I don't understand why people keep thinking its a good idea to try and force people to go somewhere they don't want to. I 100% agree that you should shut down the tailgates that have the potential to cause a problem (Rockstar Energy trucks and rented UHauls) but don't create an environment that turns away one of the biggest student sections in college football. There has to be a delicate balance and right now the AD is working hard to destroy a pretty legit pre-game tailgating scene here at RU by acting like nazi's with the students and creating an artificial priority point market (but that's a discussion for another day).
I was chatting it up with the frat kids around me in Blue lot letting them know how BS I think it is that they're trying to screw the tailgating scene for students. I also know that the consequence will be many less students in the stadium for games which is something I don't think anybody wants.
You can thank many people on this board for complaining about students being "too rowdy". A few people emailed JH about it. Now they will complain that the students don't show up to the game and wonder why.
You tried hard, but you failed. Here's where you went wrong:
- The idea that "everyone was jacked" for the PSU game last year overlooks the fact that several tailgates adjacent to ours were seriously disrupted by out of control - not "jacked" - students. Tables were overturned, food was ruined, beer was stolen, etc.
- In our own tailgate we had one guy fall facedown in the dirt in the middle of our tent, who had to be removed by friends and emergency services personnel. We had another guy miss throwing up on my food table by the mere fact of me pushing him away at the last minute.
- We had another encounter with a young girl who was so completely wasted that she didn't know where she was. Again, people had to be called to attend to her.
Additionally, the parade of cop ATVs through the parking lot isn't something that started happening after we complained. It has been constant. The number increases year over year because somebody sees fit to allow the cops to spend more money every year on cop ATVs. And the fact is, the cops are ALWAYS going to bother students who appear to be underage. That's what they get paid to do. It has nothing to do with people complaining. The only thing that dispersing the students did with respect to that issue was make it harder for the cops to round them up. Whether that's a good thing or a bad thing depends on your perspective.
Finally, my original plan as submitted to Julie last season (the aforementioned diagram) did not have the students moved to the Werblin Center. It had those tailgates moved to the section of the Blue lot on the opposite side of the access lane, directly north of the soccer field.
Regardless, we still go back to the one inescapable fact - since RU joined the B1G the administration is looking to squeeze every possible dime from the season ticket holders. What used to be a virtually free "park & party" experience in the Blue lot for anyone who cared to participate is now a parking privilege that costs several several thousand dollars a year, all said and done. And the people who pay several thousand dollars a year aren't going to tolerate having their expensive food layouts puked on. That's what Bac's Lo-Bro is for.
My daughter is a senior and none of her friends want to go anymore. They go to the bars. They miss the tailgates but got sick of the police presence. I realize it is underage drinking for the freshman and sophomores but that is part of the "charm" of college. At least my daughter has great tailgating memories from her freshman year which most of today's freshman won't have and that's a shame.
And for the record, I agree with @vkj91 - students should be a part of the overall experience and there has to be a balance. Anyone who either claims or believes that my group and I are "anti-student" is seriously missing the point - I've fed more students over the last 26 years (for free) than any other kind of tailgate guest.
But the pickup truck / U-Haul parties got out of hand. And when they got out of hand, people complained. Many people complained, not just our group. Believe me, we have some stain with Julie but nowhere near enough to get the entire tailgate scene overhauled without a LOT of help.
Which goes back to my point that, in the end, the students as a whole have no one to blame but the assholes who made all the trouble.
But the pickup truck / U-Haul parties got out of hand. And when they got out of hand, people complained. Many people complained, not just our group. Believe me, we have some stain with Julie but nowhere near enough to get the entire tailgate scene overhauled without a LOT of help.
Which goes back to my point that, in the end, the students as a whole have no one to blame but the assholes who made all the trouble.
Thank you for your contribution on making the game day experience worse. I don't understand why people can't handle the one off situations by calling the authorities instead of going straight to JH and killing everything.
You're making too many assumptions.
We said "move the 100 person parties out of the lot".
So they did.
If students want to tailgate in the lot in responsible and reasonable group sizes, then they can do that. In fact, several of them were seen last week.
You're representing the complaints of the people who want to drive in with a truck and $10,000 worth of DJ equipment and alcohol.
To that, I say "tough shit - go somewhere else".
Nobody "killed everything".
Well, somebody killed your ability to reason, but that's not my problem, either.
If the students don't come to the game,reduce the number of students tickets NOW. Expand the number of family season tickets ($235) since there is a waiting list. Also,let ALL Rutgers students --_Camden,Newark,Mercer,Freehold,North Branch,Atlantic City,law school,med school,grad schools--have the chance to get tickets if we see a pattern of tickets not being claimed/used by the Rutgers students in Piscataway and New Brunswick. Stop worrying about who paid what student fee where. Rutgers needs a following throughout the state and we need people IN THE SEATS,not a bunch of drunken losers in the parking lots or back at their dorms with their endless whining.
I will say, the group I saw the police quizzing in the Blue Lot did show up in a U-Haul pickup truck. What amazes me today is that not one kid in the frat has his own they could use? The U-Haul truck instinctively attracts attention. Then dumping 8-10 cases of beer also do that. There is still a way to have large fun tailgates with music (self-supplied) food and drinks and not cause problems. I just feel for those who have behaved and also contribute who are being squeezed now too.
When we were students the only time we ever tailgated was homecoming. Otherwise it was party on Union St.
That behavior is definitely not ever acceptable, but my point was I have never heard of the Blue lot being that bad and I think a combination of circumstances on that date (as I outlined in my prior post) is what led to those incidents (it didn't happen the prior 3 home games that year, did it?). IMO that night of poor behavior didn't warrant trying to reshape where students tailgate just to please some donors who got kicked out of higher paying lots and other donors who had a legit complaint for once.
Also, I am not talking about the cops on 4 wheelers - that has been going on for years. I am talking about legit militarized swat team style police equipment in the lots now and an increased police presence. Police watch towers, cops walking in front and now behind my tailgate with a look on their face like they're searching for a serial murderer...and there are no students at my parties. I see more cops in the Blue lot than I saw at an EDC concert where it's almost a given that everyone is on molly (not me lol).
Look at all of the comments ITT. It isn't a "few crazies" saying this. It is a legit problem that the AD is creating and they need to fix it - fast. Stop believing that you can force people to BBQ and drink in a certain area. Instead, hold them to the same standards as other people in the same tailgate lot that they rightfully earned to be in (either through priority points or paying up in the secondary market) and I think you'll solve the problem. Trying to force yet another tailgate space on the students and coming down on them harder with tickets is going to lead them to stay home (let's not forget the challenges every school faces with maintaining fan interest in the age of HDTV).
At the end of the day you, I and many others ITT are still going to be here supporting RU many years from now. Will Geoff Brown and Julie Herman be here to fix a potential mess they've helped create? Probably not. We need to be smart about this or we're going to be staring at a 50% capacity student section in the future and then arguing in those threads about how to fix that problem.
The thing is, it wasn't just the PSU game. It was the Michigan game and the Wisconsin game as well.
We don't see any "militarized police presence" in the front row of the Blue lot, where we typically wind up. I would suggest, however, that the use of that equipment is precisely the same as it is everywhere. I've asked the question, repeatedly, "why does my 6 man hometown PD need an MRAP?" The answer is because the government gives them the money to buy this shit and, cops being cops, they're gonna buy it and they're gonna use it for no reason at all. Bigger boys, bigger toys.
The University of Maryland has a policy around tailgating that makes perfect sense:
THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A PARTY AND A TAILGATE
- The Department of Public Safety differentiates between a “tailgate” and a “party” and a party may be disbanded and attendees removed from the lots.
- A tailgate has a variety of food and beverages, including non-alcoholic beverages, available in sufficient quantities for the number of people attending.
- A party has some of the following characteristics:
- Common containers such as kegs, party balls, large containers of mixed drinks, beer tubs, trash cans of beer
- Loud music
- Drinking games
- Underage drinkers
- Lack of food
- Large or excessive quantities of alcohol
- Large numbers of people
As for enforcement, I think where you and I disconnect is that I believe - and we expressed to Julie and Sarah last year - that with regard to those situations that are obviously "parties", there is NO REASON WHATSOEVER to allow them to come into the lot, set up, create a disturbance and then get thrown out after somebody calls the cops (or the cops call themselves). The thing that you and others refuse to understand is that is as far as our request / recommendation went. The "obvious parties" should be denied admission to the lot.
Where you and others feel that this went wrong is in the belief that denying such activities causes "all the students" to not go to the games. This is utter crap. It causes a few hundred idiots to not go to the games. And frankly, they never actually went into the games anyway. Between arrest, removal, intoxication and boredom, they all wind up being gone by the end of the first quarter.
Nobody is trying to solve a problem that doesn't exist. I think that some are trying very hard to conflate one problem with another, which isn't right.
I've heard that at Maryland, students have their own section to tailgate in and it's one big party that cops just oversee, but do not interfere with. Apparently it's great. Rutgers should do the same.
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