In the future, tailgating could be a very different experience.

Beer and wine could be the only alcoholic beverages allowed at the Wilson tennis courts. Tailgating might start five hours before game time and rowdy fans could be forced to go home an hour after kick off. Anyone with an open bottle of alcohol could be contained to specific areas on campus - which means no more walking around with open beer.

Although these rules are not in place today, they are some suggestions MSU officials and student leaders came up with Wednesday at a meeting in which they discussed the health and safety issues involved with tailgating on campus.

"We discussed short- and long-term activities we could do as a university to solve the issues involved in tailgating," said Andrew Schepers, ASMSU Student Assembly chairperson. "Officials are concerned that there are things occurring that tarnish the image of MSU."

Discussion about what kind of campus community students and officials want MSU to be was a main topic of conversation, said Vice President of Student Affairs Lee June.

"It was a far-reaching discussion about what kind of behaviors everyone wants to see and what is the responsibility of the students," June said. "The intent was to try to get students to put on the table as many ideas as they have about things that we could possibly do with tailgating."

Patricia Enos, assistant to the vice president of student affairs and services, facilitated the meeting and said support for ideas varied.

"We tried not to spend too much time thinking about practical issues around the suggestions," she said. "We know some things could be very hard to implement short-term."

Increasing bathroom facilities and the number of trained Emergency Medical Technicians were suggestions to improve safety during tailgate. Schepers said he was surprised to learn from Olin Health Center officials that the average ambulance response time during tailgating is about 25-30 minutes.

Increasing the number of portable bathrooms in tailgating areas would lessen the amount of public urination that occurs - an issue Schepers said MSU officials felt hurt the image of the university.

He also hopes to set up a first aid stand at the next home game.

Paul Harmon, ASMSU association director, said there was some concern about the amount of trash involved in tailgating. He suggested putting more trash cans out on game day to reduce the amount of broken glass and the number of injuries.

"With trash there is a safety and image concern," Harmon said. "People are walking around in sandals during the hot days, getting cut and because they are inebriated, they don't know they are injured."

Regulating the types and number of drinking games and creating zones with identification checks at entrances were some suggestions to control alcohol abuse.

Others thought requiring car passes for entrance near the tennis courts was a good idea. Passes could be given out on a rotating basis and would be good for one game.

Both Harmon and Schepers said officials in the meeting will not make any immediate changes to tailgating.

"It was very clear that there will be no actual, current actions taken by the board," Harmon said. "They are just looking for opinions right now."

June said student leaders will meet with their respective groups and discuss the issue before presenting more ideas in future meetings.

"The opportunity to tailgate and to do a lot of things on campus is really a privilege and there's some responsibilities that come with that," June said. "The administration wanted to give students the opportunity to have input. I assume at some point they will make a decision regarding this issue."