The tennis court tailgating situation at MSU ranges in opinion from vaguely problematic to the forefront of many minds, but in both cases, rushing a quick fix to the MSU Board of Trustees would be unwise.
ASMSU, MSU's undergraduate student government, is technically the official student voice in college administrative proceedings, but there are times where the general student population might not share its exact views. Case in point, its suggestions for tailgate reform revealed late last week. Rather than squeaking policy through, which could potentially offend or perturb its constituency, ASMSU should hold a series of town hall meetings to address overall student concerns on how to change tailgating.
A bill of tailgate reform policy is currently underway within ASMSU. Its policy committee recommended a ban on glass containers, a limit on the potency of beverages and a time limit on tailgate activities. Also among the pondered reforms is limiting drinking games. All sound ideas, to be sure, but bear in mind that the urgency of Tailgate-gate varies widely.
When serious consideration of changing tailgating first came up two weeks ago in response to an alleged rape, the plan was to wait until next football season to implement major changes. This gives ASMSU, MSU administrators and students just under a year to hammer out changes that make everyone relatively happy. ASMSU's urgency is to be commended, but the collective voice of about 40,000 undergrads cannot be assessed inside one week's time.
Some of the ideas, as they are right now, would be nearly impossible to enforce. The idea to ban glass containers, for instance, would likely be enforced more heavily on students than alumni. A six-pack of fine imported bottled beer around West Circle would undoubtedly draw less attention than a half-empty fifth outside Wilson Hall.
Proposed regulations that call for the prohibition of certain "unsafe" drinking games - exact details have not yet been brought forward - would suffer a similar fate of being virtually impossible to enforce effectively. Changes that limit the potency of alcohol or only allowing cars to park five hours before tailgating begins are not as important as providing the simple framework for students to be safe in a large crowd. Even without the presence of alcohol, crowds populated by thousands of people can be dangerous.
The problems that have plagued tailgating for the last two years are not related to the sexual assaults that got people at MSU talking. They are simple problems, such as the need for more water stations, portable toilets, first aid stations and medical support, a clearer thoroughfare to allow people to walk freely and more police presence. These are things that can be fixed quickly, and that won't cause major student uproar if they are implemented sometime during this season. Improving the environment in this case will ultimately improve the student behavior.
If immediate, effective solutions are clearly available, broad and unenforceable policies should not come near to being implemented. As they are right now, some of ASMSU's ideas punish the responsible tailgater for cases of personal irresponsibility.
