The price MSU officials paid for a safer tailgating was to, in effect, destroy tailgating as it once was. Sure, you can technically tailgate. But who feels like partying on deserted tennis courts with only 12 other people? The spirit of tailgate has been broken.
To be sure, the tailgate celebration before MSU faced off with Notre Dame this year was out of control. With the exception of a sexual assault, how was that game different than any other big game, against say the University of Michigan? Tailgating's darker side didn't see the light of day - other than bureaucratic speculation pledging one day to right the wrong - until this year.
Maybe the problem rests more in endemic, higher-than-usual numbers of sexual assaults on campus this year. If so, banning drinking games at tailgates does not solve larger campus-wide problems with substance abuse and sexual abuse. The better idea, as MSU President M. Peter McPherson suggested, is combining health and safety education with the new regulations.
But even with this, there are problems. The tennis courts near South Complex might be emptied, but the front lawns of East Lansing are not. If Saturday was any indication of what's to come, tailgating - along with all the problems - will just shift into the city. East Lansing officials, namely City Councilmember Beverly Baten, have already voiced concern for this very problem. Ideally, the city should not have to inherit MSU's problems, but right now it is.
Tailgating regulations pose another problem - whether the enforcement will gradually relax over time. Once students at large refuse to tailgate on campus there would be little to enforce. Although it's not the original intent, alumni tailgating areas could be deemed "non-threatening" and regulations could be largely theoretical, similar to the ban on alcohol at Munn field.
While a time limit on parking and a ban on drinking games were the only publicized changes, some unofficial suggestions were implemented. The number of portable toilets did actually increase and police were more active in checking tailgaters' identification.
ASMSU members worked hard to push for safety increases, including an increase in toilets, but said they felt largely ignored once the two official changes were made public. Signaling to ASMSU that some of its suggestions had actually made it would have saved everyone involved a lot of time and grief.
Students who did tailgate at the tennis courts said police carded them multiple times. If this trend continues, police should implement a system of marking of-age tailgaters - color-coded armbands, for example. This will give them a visual reminder of who should be drinking and would increase efficiency. Hopefully, restrictions will ease up over time. Until they do, MSU police might face a risk of overstaffing for an event virtually no students attend. University grounds crews run a parallel risk of putting out toilets never to be used.
MSU officials should continue to follow suggestions for increasing safety during tailgating - just in case it gets popular again. Implementing some safety measures, such as a ban on glass, more water and food vending, medical stations and a clear thoroughfare for pedestrian traffic, might be wise for games against rivals.
