An event on Facebook created this week entitled “Homecoming Tailgate” advertises an anything-goes before Saturday’s game. The page had generated more than 2,000 “attending” as of Tuesday afternoon.

“They don’t care how much alcohol you bring as long as you don’t have glass. For trucks and speakers … anything goes. Bottom line there are no rules,” the event description states.

University Police Chief Bill Yeagley said the rules have not changed since last year. He said he had not heard of the Facebook event before.

“I’d be happy to talk to whoever set up the event and set them straight,” he said. “The rules and policies changed last year. This year at all the home games, we have been enforcing those.”

Yeagley said alcohol is still limited to six 12-ounce containers per person and speakers must be pre-registered with the athletics department. No glass containers will be allowed in the tailgate lot.

Senior associate athletic director Derek van der Merwe said students can register their speaker systems when they purchase a parking pass for the tailgate lot. Parking passes can be purchased at the Athletics office through Friday for $6 or for $10 at the lot on Saturday.

“They just need to agree to abide by certain guidelines,” van der Merwe said. “(They’ll say) if there’s an emergency, they’ll cooperate with security personnel.”

If students are breaking the tailgate rules, Yeagley said police will correct the situation.

“We’ll say, ‘You can’t have those speakers in here’ or ‘You’re only allowed to have six beers and you have 12. You need to get rid of six of them before we let you in,’” he said.

Yeagley said the situation is no different from a concert or another event at another venue.

“They all have regulations.” Yeagley said. “We handle it the exact same way.”

Organizers of the Facebook event could not be reached for comment.

“I’ve heard that tailgating gets pretty crazy, but I heard last year they had to make it more strict,” the Jackson freshman said. “It’s still fun, I’m still having a good time.”

Trolz spent his time tailgating in lot 63 outside of Kelly/Shorts Stadium, talking with friends and playing ladder golf.

His friend Daniel Hughes, also a Jackson freshman, said tailgating was more enjoyable in the past. However, he said students shouldn’t quit supporting the football team because of the policies that were implemented last year.

“I think people will loosen up and give it a chance,” Hughes said. “I think the weather stopped it this time — that and it’s the beginning of the year and people are still getting situated. It’s a bit rainy, but I think we have some good ones ahead of us.”

Such policies include increased security and a six-beer or one pint of liquor limit per person, with no glass bottles. Students must also purchase a $6 parking pass prior to stationing their vehicle in lot 63.

Last year, attendance at CMU’s student tailgate went from thousands to around 300 for the first game, according to CMU police.

Police Chief Bill Yeagley said he was uncomfortable providing an estimate of the number of tailgate attendants Thursday because he was unable to get a good view of the crowd. The population in lot 63 was “light to medium at best,” he said.

Owosso alumnus Gary Ridley attended the tailgate with some friends.

“It’s disappointing that in a year when the CMU football team loses so many great players, the school continues to have policies that keeps fans from coming to the game,” he said. “Central should do whatever they can to promote a top 25 football team.”

Despite the current tailgate policies, Ridley said students should still support their team.

He said he felt bad for students who hadn’t experienced tailgates from years past and he wasn’t sure if the low attendance was due to weather, classes or the new policies.

“It’s hard to judge what freshman feel about the program because they weren’t here last year,” he said. “We had a great team last year, so it’s kind of sad that momentum didn’t carry over.”

Grand Ledge junior Kyle Grost said tailgating is not about drinking for him — it’s about catching up with friends and having fun.

“I wish turnout was higher,” he said. “You should always give it a chance. I might have different motivations for coming, but it’d be nice to see more students out here.”

Sgt. Mike Morrow of the CMU Police Department said he has never known weather or class schedules to significantly impact tailgate attendance in the past.

“We didn’t know what to expect,” he said. “We were hoping for a better turnout than what we have seen.”

Still, Morrow fully supports the current tailgate policies, saying it’s a personal choice “if people choose not to come because of the rules.”

Despite an up-and-down academic year thus far at Central Michigan University in which we have had several complaints, the Central Michigan Life editorial board has several things it is thankful for this semester.

Tailgate

We are thankful that students took a stand against the new tailgating procedures earlier this semester. Prior to the beginning of the home football season, a 21-person committee that included just three students decided to set a new tailgating policy, which included placing a limit of six beers or one pint of alcohol per person and banned external sound systems from Lot 63 outside Kelly/Shorts Stadium.

Although several good changes were made, such as the addition of an emergency lane and more restrooms, students protested the alcohol limit and sound system ban mainly by moving tailgate to Main Street. By the

Homecoming game Oct. 10 against Eastern Michigan, the ban on external sound systems was lifted and many students returned to tailgate.

Wilbur’s Open Forums

We are thankful that interim University President Kathy Wilbur met with students at several open forums this semester. Wilbur met with about 70 students from the Leadership Program on Oct. 1 in a low-key setting and held several forums in the residence halls. Students had the opportunity for close interaction with the president.

It was nice to see a higher-up such as Wilbur take time to listen to students. Former University President Michael Rao had limited interaction for several years before leaving CMU in June for Virginia Commonwealth University. The next university president should follow Wilbur’s example and meet with students on a regular basis.

Central Alert

We are thankful the Central Alert System is refined. On Oct. 19, in response to a Music Building evacuation, an emergency broadcast was sent out around 10 p.m., waking many students, families and residents with a garbled message.

CMU Police Chief Bill Yeagley is making sure this does not happen again by training operators and making sure that messages will only go out to those who need to hear them. We also are thankful Yeagley admitted guilt to the problems. The Central Alert System is an effective way to warn students about on-campus hazards and is worth keeping, if it works correctly.

So far, the improvements have made the system better and should continue to do so in to the future.

Soccer success

We are thankful the CMU soccer team won the Mid-American Conference Championship.

Normally, it is the football and wrestling teams that garner national attention at CMU with championships. In coach Tom Anagnost’s first full year, the soccer team went on a 17-game unbeaten streak and a 13-game shutout streak. This year was the first time the team appeared in the NCAA Tournament, beating No. 24
Purdue in the first round, 2-0, and losing to No. 5 Notre Dame in the second round.

The soccer team should work to match that success in the next few years.

A lot of credit goes to Student Government Association Jason Nichol, who fought hard to have the ban lifted. He’s still fighting and continuing to open up greater communication between students and the tailgating committee.

The new amendment to the tailgating proceedures will allow students to use external sound systems starting at 8:30 a.m. on gamedays. The external sound systems will be placed in specific locations. In order to uphold saftey standards, students with the systems will be told what to do in emergency situations.

Although the other tailgating rules will not be changed, this is a big step toward students having their voices heard.

The lifting of the ban may seem trivial. But if students had not voiced their opinions and simply dealt with the ban, nothing would have changed. The administration would have continued to push students around.

Nichol has done a terrific job working as a liaison between the student body and the CMU administration. His dealings with the adminstration has been effective thus far. SGA is making an impact around Central Michigan University and will hopefully continue to do so.

Nichol has started a student ad-hoc committee that will work with university officals. This committee will act as the voice of the student body. It will work to make sure that tailgating procedures are better understood between students, administrators and police.

Students should be aware of the power they have here at the university. When they become organized and band together to make a difference, goals have a much higher rate of succession. The lift on the ban is evidence of this. Hopefully, students will not give up.

The lift on the ban also shows what can happen when the administration opens its doors and effectively listens to students. The ban, along with the other restrictions at tailgate, should not have been established in the first place. It was a waste of time on everyone’s part.

If emergency vehicles coming into tailgating was the reason for not having external sound systems, the athletic department should have simply installed new expectations for students, like they are now, insteading of having the systems banned.

The proceedures for tailgating still are not where they should be. But as long as students keep the pressure on the athletic department and university officials, the rules can continue to be changed to include what students deem acceptable, not just what the university deems as suitable.

According to numbers provided by Central Michigan University Police Chief Bill Yeagley, tailgating last year resulted in 65 incidents in which an individual had to be transported to the hospital, compared to one thus far in 2009.

A total of 19 emergency runs were reported during the first home football game on Aug. 28, 2008, against Eastern Illinois. In comparison, one such run was reported at the first home game this year on Sept. 19 against Alcorn State.

The second home game in 2008 against Buffalo saw 11 medical runs, compared to no reported incidents at the Sept. 26 game against Akron this year. The following three home games in 2008 resulted in eight, 17 and 10 respective medical runs.

Attendance slide

Yeagley said he estimates the average tailgating attendance at last year’s first two home games to be from 1,200 to 1,500 people, but those numbers are far from official.

If the average tailgating attendance from 2008 is 1,350 people — halfway between 1,200 and 1,500 — there were approximately .96 medical runs per 100 people in attendance at the first two games.

That compares to .14 medical runs per 100 students in 2009, if the average attendance number is 350.

Yeagley said he could not pinpoint the specifics of each individual emergency, but said a fair number of them were because of alcohol poisoning.

“Over the past number of years, (the medical runs) had been going up consistently,” Yeagley said.

The number of alcohol violations and other crimes also have seen a significant decrease with the new procedures. In 2008, police issued 25 MIP’s over five games. In addition, there were five disorderly conduct reports, two assaults, three larcenies and three destruction of property incidents.

One MIP has been issued and one larceny reported in Lot 63 so far this year. That comes with a dip in attendance from more than 1,000 to around 300 because of students protesting the new tailgating policy.

CMU adopted the policy last month to limit students to six beers or one pint of liquor each while also creating an emergency lane, banning external sound systems and setting five to six pedestrian “checkpoints.”

Yeagley said in order to determine the true effects of the new tailgating policies, he would have to go back and determine an appropriate per capita ratio.

“I would go back to those ‘08 games and see how many people we had,” he said.

Changes in university tailgating policies have drastically reduced the number of people in Lot 63, which has made a dent in sales of nearby stores and restaurants.

The Subway at 1620 S. Mission St. only had half their normal staff working on game day, said Supervisor Sarah Schuetz, a Milford senior.

“Usually on a tailgate day, we’ll do 80 to 100 subs per hour for hours and hours,” Schuetz said. “But (Saturday), we only did that once.”

The university drafted a tailgating policy in August that limited students at Lot 63, south of Kelly/Shorts Stadium, to six beers or one pint of liquor each and banned external
sound systems. In protest, many students migrated to Main Street to tailgate.

Chad Miller, manager at The Cabin, 930 W. Broomfield St., said the bar has seen a marked decrease in customers this year compared to years past.

“Everyone’s going down Main Street, so nobody’s coming down this way,” Miller said.

7-Eleven, 302 W. Broomfield St., has seen a 15 percent loss of customers on game days compared to 2008.

“I really didn’t think it would be that dramatic of a boycott by the students,” said 7-Eleven owner and manager Ryan Chappell. “I guess people have a new place to party now.
Maybe for the next game, we’ve got to do something different.”

Ryan Reedy, co-owner of The Grotto, 304 W. Broomfield St., said business has gone down about 40 percent, but will plan on specials for Homecoming weekend.

Cabin cook Braden Thompson said decreased pedestrian traffic from the tailgating lot was causing a decrease in business, like other businesses.

“Typically how it was, is Lot 63 would be filled, and then people would go to the game, and the people that just came to tailgate would walk to the bar,” Thompson said. “Last
Saturday, we were busy, but it wasn’t anything like we were used to.”

Not much difference

Brian Lefler, manager at Menna’s Joint, 1418 S. Mission St., said business was not negatively affected by the changes in tailgating.

“(Menna’s is) just as busy, if not busier,” said Lefler, a Livonia senior. “I was more shocked that we were as busy for as long as we were.”

Lefler said Menna’s gave away 200 to 300 “Dubbie” wraps at the alternative tailgate lot and approximately 150 on Main Street to promote the store.

Restaurants in the Stadium Mall, 2212 S. Mission St., were largely unaffected as well.

Quizno’s owner Joe Stevens said business may be down slightly, but nothing significant. Jess Cuddie, general manager at Big Apple Bagels, said business has not been hurt by
the changes, but the store closes before football games are typically finished on Saturdays.

Coldstone Creamery owner Duane Stott said although the store is seeing decreased patronage, he does not believe the changes in tailgating are responsible.

“I know our sales are down, but I think the economic conditions would have done that,” Stott said. “I would imagine that beer and ice cream don’t go together so, if they’re
drinking less beer, maybe they’re eating more ice cream.”

Senior Reporter Brad Canze contributed to this report

Yeagley said there were no injuries, no arrests and no ambulance runs.

“There were no disturbances at all,” Yeagley said.

Yeagley said around 300 to 400 people tailgated in the student lot, Lot 63, about the same number as last week.

He said the police would deal with anywhere from seven to 15 incidents per tailgate in previous years, including injuries and medical runs.

To curb those incidents, the university drafted a tailgating policy in August that set a six-beer limit, created an emergency lane and banned external sound systems.

Although Yeagley said tailgating is safer, for Saline sophomore David Fraser, it just is not the same.

“This tailgate and the last one just aren’t as exciting,” he said. “The student side is very lackluster.
Before, there was a sea of students ready to go to the game, now it just kind of feels empty.”

The policy also introduced more restrooms and vendors and kept cars in the lot until at least the third quarter.

Can collecting catastrophe

Lot 63 has seen a decrease in attendance the last two home football games with tailgaters.

Fraser said while some of the new tailgating procedures, such as emergency vehicle access and increased restrooms, are good, many CMU students feel the other rules are overbearing.

Fraser helped several students collect cans around Kelly/Shorts Stadium during Saturday’s football game in an attempt to raise money for registered student organizations.

He said a total of 120 pounds of cans were collected, worth about $175.

Fraser said they would have collected many more cans in the student tailgating lot if it was not for the new tailgating procedures.

Comstock Park senior Nick Dekorver collected cans to raise money for a November conference that his RSO, Universities Allied for Essential Medicines, will attend at Yale.

After last week’s low tailgate turnout, Dekorver said he is not surprised by the low number of cans collected.

He said during previous tailgates, hundreds of dollars worth of cans could have been collected.

“Tailgating used to be the pre-game culture and now its spread out more,” he said. “We would have made at least three times as much in previous years. The new rules limit the number of people and, if you limit the number of people, you limit the number of cans.”

Dekorver said although creating a safe environment is important, some of the new tailgating procedures are ridiculous.

Walloon Lake junior Stacy Bonnee, a member of the Women’s club softball team, collected cans in an effort to raise money for team equipment, including uniforms and a batting machine.

“We’re working long hours and not getting much out of it,” she said. “Nobody’s here.”

Ferris State University decided to implement a special fundraiser for its Oct. 3 football game against Michigan Technological University. Fifth Third Ballpark in Comstock Park, where the game will be played, will sell alcoholic beverages during a tailgate before the “Battle at the Ballpark.”

Free shuttle bus rides also will be provided to and from Big Rapids on the day of the game.

“We needed to generate money for our football program,” said Jon Coles, FSU associate athletics director. “We’re splitting everything 50/50 with the ballpark.”

The new procedures at Central Michigan University include a six-beer limit, a ban on external sound systems and five to six pedestrian entrances. An estimated total of 300 people were at last Saturday’s student tailgate at Lot 63.

Coles said Ferris State’s game day atmosphere is not quite the same as in Mount Pleasant, and the fundraiser will help build it.

“We can’t deny the fact that college students like to drink beer,” he said. “We’re not encouraging it… we do want students to congregate and enjoy each other’s company.”

Around the MAC

While policies such as alcohol amount limits and external sound systems are not specifically stated in some other Mid-American Conference tailgating policies, there are similarities.

Western Michigan and Ball State University, for instance, both have policies against tailgating after the opening kickoff.

At the same time, the University of Minnesota declared it will require certain students to submit to breathalyzer tests prior to entering the stadium.

Students previously disciplined for drunken behavior at games will be subject to the tests.

The policy, modeled off a similar Wisconsin program, is different now the university’s football team has moved to a new stadium on campus, where alcohol is prohibited.

However, it has met with only minimal complaints from fans.

There will be no limit on the amount of alcohol that can be purchased for FSU’s tailgate, Coles said.

Students also will be asked for identification.

Coles said the university expects to sell a lot of beer and is expecting each person to contribute an average of $6 to the fundraiser.

FSU hopes to have a similar event in the future if it is a success. Coles also praised CMU tailgaters and said he was aware of the change in tailgating policies outside of Kelly/Shorts Stadium.

“Central students are welcome to come and show our students how to tailgate,” he said.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

Athletics Director Dave Heeke said he was disappointed more students did not attend.

“They formed their opinions without actually visiting and seeing what the overall impact would truly be. I think it’s really shortsighted on their part,” he said. “I think we’re forgetting that there was the very real chance that tailgating would not exist for students at all.”

Misconceptions and sensationalism from Facebook and the media hurt the overall perception of the procedures, he said. The tailgating policy limits students to six beers or one pint of liquor each, bans external sound systems, bans cars leaving before the third quarter and instates six pedestrian entry points, among other rules.

“It seems like they took a couple of small pieces and rallied around those to de-unify the student body. I believe the students de-unified themselves,” he said. “I think if you talk to people who were there, the level of enforcement was very reasonable.”

Senior Associate Athletic Director Derek van der Merwe said the terms “checkpoints,” “restrictions” and “regulations” were never used.

“We talked about this in terms of expectations,” he said. “The message has become this imposition of regulation.”

Van der Merwe said students were represented at all committee meetings regarding tailgate and were supportive of the initiatives. Three of the 21 positions on the committee were students.

The initiatives for student tailgating cost around $2,500 to $3,000 per game, which included restrooms, fencing, security, entertainment and food, van der Merwe said.

“We want more students,” Heeke said. “I hope they’ll come back and give it a try to create a great atmosphere in the parking lot.”

Game attendance

A total of 18,323 attended CMU’s 48-0 win over Alcorn State at Kelly/Shorts Stadium on Saturday. The stadium seats 30,255.

Several comments from people claiming to be alumni on Central Michigan Life’s Web site raised concerns that alumni attendance might suffer because of the new tailgating procedures, but Heeke is confident alumni will return.

“If alums want to occupy space that’s been allotted for our student body, that in itself is concerning sometimes,” he said. “Is it really alumni’s spot to go into that tailgate?”

Ted Tolcher, interim vice president of development and alumni relations, said he has not heard of any alumni cutting contributions to CMU over the tailgate procedure.

The procedures did not seem to dampen student attendance at the game, which Heeke said was one of the best he saw in his four years at CMU.

Even if game attendance drops, he said the university is committed to providing a safe environment.

“I understand the picture that’s in the paper,” Heeke said, referring to the front page of Central Michigan Life on Monday. “That’s a difficult picture. I also have to make sure there’s not a picture of a dead student on the front page. We all have to keep that in mind because the environment was not safe and it was not conducive to keeping people out.”

Tailgating in previous years was very dangerous, he said, and the number of injuries increased significantly over the last three years, said CMU Police Chief Bill Yeagley.

Heeke did not address whether tailgate procedures would be change if attendance drops.

Enforcement

Yeagley said the expectations are not laws, and students cannot be subject to a ticket or arrest for not complying.

Instead, students who do not follow the expectations will be asked to comply or leave.

“If they’re coming in with a case of beer and it’s just one person, we would say you need to get rid of the beer or you have to leave,” he said.

Overall, he said the atmosphere was what the university looked for — relaxed.

“I would love the students to come try it. If you aren’t pleased, I’ll meet with anybody personally,” Yeagley said. “None of this was intended to drive people away. None of this was intended to ruin tailgating and I don’t think it needs to. I think we can still work within the expectations.”

It sounded like a typical football tailgate at Kelly/Shorts Stadium. Except this tailgate Saturday was on Main Street.

Hundreds of people crowded the street north of campus that afternoon instead of attending stadium Lot 63 in protest of the new tailgating regulations.

Tanner Smoker, a Constantine junior and Delta Chi fraternity member, said the fraternity would continue to protest the tailgate until the changes are lifted.

“We don’t like the new rules of tailgating, so we want to show that we can do tailgating elsewhere,” Smoker said. “Tailgating by the stadium is way better. This is fun, but being in such a tight area with everyone made it feel more unified.”

The new tailgating policy includes a six-beer limit, pedestrian checkpoints around Lot 63, a ban on external sound systems, food vendors, more restrooms and an emergency lane.

West Bloomfield junior Robert Ventimiglia said his decision to attend the next tailgate would depend on what he hears about the new atmosphere.

“I’m (on Main Street) because I don’t agree with the new rules,” Ventimiglia said. “Compared to the old atmosphere at the stadium, I’d rather be there. Main is nice, but it’s nothing like the tailgates used to be.”

Police presence

Along with the hundreds of people on Main Street, there was an elevated police presence patrolling the street including state, local and undercover officers. One of their main focuses was to keep people off the sidewalk and the volume of the stereo systems down.

“The police seem to be babysitting on some of the Greek houses and I think that’s wrong,” said Troy junior Evan Agnello.

Agnello said he tailgated on Main Street because of the recent rule changes, even though he attended every home football tailgate last year.

“The university should trust its students a little more,” Agnello said. “They went from having the best tailgate atmosphere to having the most strict and most avoided tailgate.”

He said some of the new rules are positive and make tailgate safer, but the university went too far restricting the freedom of its students.

“Now everyone is getting behind their (Greek) house instead of getting behind the football team. Last year, everybody wanted to come together and cheer on CMU as a whole,” Agnello said.