Last Monday, the Penn State athletic department evicted the latest crop of Paternoville residents camped outside the Bryce Jordan Center, who were itching for first dibs on bowl tickets.

The eviction came as the department announced its policy, which would consist of wristband distribution that would allow a lottery system for ticket sales.

While the athletic department should have informed the campers before they pitched their tents, the revised wristband policy is fair for all involved.

Ideally, it would be nice to guarantee the dedicated members of Paternoville would all be able to get tickets to the game. But this simply is not possible.

What about students who have prior obligations and cannot devote a week of their lives to camping out for tickets? Are these fans any less loyal because they have real life responsibilities and others have unlimited free time?

Because the FedEx Orange Bowl has fewer seats available than there are Penn State students with season tickets, camping out for tickets is not as feasible as it is for home games played at Beaver Stadium.

The BJC uses this same wristband policy to distribute concert tickets, and it has worked well over the years. The practice of such a policy is the only way to ensure everyone has the same chance to purchase bowl tickets.

The lottery system gives each student season ticket holder the same opportunity to purchase an Orange Bowl ticket.

Students can receive a numbered wristband on Wednesday at the Bryce Jordan Center. At 8 a.m. Thursday, students will line up in the order of the wristbands' numbers, and all students following a selected number will be eligible to buy tickets, said Greg Myford, associate athletic director of marketing.

It would have been completely unreasonable for the athletic department to allow students to camp out at the BJC for more than a week, as the venue plays host to several men's and women's basketball games this week, in addition to the Dave Matthews Band concert.

And Myford added that there is little difference between student tickets and the rest of the tickets Penn State has allotted to its fans. The only difference is a $15 processing fee waived on the $85 student tickets. Orange Bowl tickets are also available on eBay. It's unfortunate that those tickets will probably end up costing students a bit more.

But one fact remains: There are other avenues through which a committed fan can obtain tickets. The athletic department didn't ruin the Paternoville residents' chances of getting tickets; it just made the process fair for every student fan.