Citations are unnecessary
Chas Eberle
senior
Continuing a tradition of bizarre and unnecessary rules, the administration has cracked down on tailgating.
Tailgating, that wretched activity involving thousands of students, parents and (check-writing) alumni waking up to go out to have fun with their friends, meet each other's parents and show unbelievable amounts of school spirit. The tailgate party is as big a part of Saturdays as the game itself, perhaps an even larger part given recent football struggles.
But tailgating involves drinking, so Notre Dame has decided that it has to be scaled back. On Saturday morning I saw NDSP officers roaming fields ticketing people. These were students who were minding their own business, not dancing on cars or crushing cans on their heads. I won't bother railing against ticketing underage students because it's too easy for officials to hide behind the law of the land and the bottom line is that it's impossible to argue against that. I'll just say that it seems very unnecessary, especially considering how many of the beers students are drinking come from their parents. I will note that underage drinking at tailgates was ignored by real police for years until University officials asked for tougher enforcement.
I'm more troubled by ticketing students who are of legal drinking age simply for the offense of "tailgateing" (that's right, it was misspelled on a ticket I saw). The students are owed an explanation as to why 21-year olds can be in violation of University rules just for being present at a perfectly legal gathering.
Rex Rakow tells us that 17 students have been treated for excessive drunkenness. Wow, 17 out of 160,000 fans at two games! Those are like Powerball odds. This is hardly an epidemic. It's a great tradition and a great time that is being trampled on for no apparent reason.
Even more ridiculous is the ticketing of students for talking. While witnessing someone being ticketed, a Sorin resident turned to a friend and described Bill Kirk using an expletive. He turned around to see Mr. Kirk standing behind him and was promptly ticketed for "blatant disrespect for University policy." What?! Come on, what road are we heading down here?
Well, Mr. Kirk, I guess I also have blatant disrespect for this policy, so I guess I also deserve a ticket.
See you in the lots on Saturday.
Chas Eberle
senior
off-campus
Oct. 8, 2001
All Viewpoint Stories for Tuesday, October 9, 2001
