Tailgaters are being issued a clear warning before they kick off their celebrations this weekend: Penn State will have little tolerance for excessive behavior at any home football games.
Penn State is tightening the penalties for drinking and rowdy behavior this year, Vice President for Student Affairs Damon Sims said.
The university is looking into a program where students who are removed from the game for any alcohol offense will have to take a Breathalyzer test before being allowed entry into any subsequent game that season, Sims said. The University of Wisconsin-Madison adopted a similar program in 2007, and the University of Minnesota followed suit in 2009, according to both schools' student newspapers.
In addition, students cited for alcohol violations during the game will be referred to the campus judicial system and will also be enrolled in the university's newly adopted group counseling program, Brief Alcohol Screening for Individual College Students (BASICS).
"Many fans have complained that they have been subjected to these behaviors," Sims said. "The police and others have been frustrated by the ineffectiveness of the many efforts to mitigate the problem."
And one area -- Lots 12 and 13, stationed north of Park Avenue and east of the Lewis Katz Building -- will be watched especially closely, Sims said. More law enforcement officials will be on hand in these areas on game days, he said, after the lots' tailgaters have previously posed significant problems.
State College Police Department Lt. Chris Fishel, who assists in law enforcement efforts on game days, said Lots 12 and 13 tend to be challenging locations. Fishel said the new strategies implemented by Penn State Police should be helpful in addressing the issues there.
But to Bryan Stone, a student who's spent plenty of Saturdays tailgating in Lots 12 and 13, the activity there isn't anything out of the ordinary.
Stone (senior-agricultural business) said the lots are usually packed with students carrying plastic red cups filled with drinks while playing beer pong and other drinking games.
"Sometimes there's crazy stuff like 'jousting,' " he said. "It's where there's a person on top of another person's shoulders, each of you has a beer in hand and you just run at each other and smash beers."
Though some might think it's chaotic, Stone said the environment is still controlled because everyone there is with groups of friends who are looking out for each other.
Sims said the goal of the new policies isn't to do away with tailgating altogether, but to combat the excessive drinking, rowdiness and dangerous behavior that often result when celebrations get out of hand.
"Tailgating, in the usual sense, is not a problem for anyone," Sims said. "We hope those attending choose instead to abide [by] all laws and regulations in place and that the football season will be marked by both wins and good fun that is safe and legal in every sense."
Stone, however, said he thinks these statements sound a little empty.
"I feel like it's just the university looking out for themselves," he said. "They went from party school to everyone getting arrested all the time... So I understand they'd want to make themselves look better."
