SGA, Athletics revisit tailgating

Editor's note: Corrections have been made to the following article. Below is the version containing the changes.

After new parking and tailgating permit rules effectively kept students from tailgating in some heavily trafficked parking lots on the campus, the Student Government Association passed a bill earlier this week asking that the university reconsider the policy.

Pat Savoy, who serves on the programming and traditions committee in the Student Government Association, has been an avid Terps sports fan for the last four years at the university and has always been involved with planning tailgate parties.

He and his buddies frequently communicated over the summer to figure out all the logistics for this year's tailgates, and they were shaping up to the same as always with lots of food, drinks and games - the friends even bought a new stereo system.

Then, right before the first home game of the season against Delaware on Aug. 30, the senior business major was shocked to find that his usual area for tailgates - parking lot 11B - would no longer be allowing parking permits to be bought on the same day as the football game, meaning no place to tailgate.

With arguably the biggest home game of the year Saturday against Florida State, Savoy presented the SGA with a bill that would be the first step to regain student tailgating in specific areas of the campus. The bill passed unanimously at the SGA meeting on Wednesday night.

Still, Savoy's group and many others across the campus, including the Greek community, will still not be able to tailgate in their usual locations. They have had to adjust and tailgate off-campus, some even miles away from Byrd Stadium.

"Now we have tailgates in our backyards, which is a lot of fun, but we miss out on the general tailgating spirit and the interactions with Maryland fans of all ages that we had in the open surface lots," said Jamie Reickel, a senior computer engineering major and friend of Savoy. "Had [these lot changes] been in effect when I was a sophomore and a junior, I would've missed out of some of my favorite college experiences."

The problem began last spring, when the Athletics Department changed the wording of the parking rules and regulations at football games. Members of the general public now receive parking permits when they buy tickets to football games. Those permits, which have sold out at most games this year, allow them to tailgate in the lot they were assigned to park in.

Student concern arises from the fact that many live on or near the campus, and do not intend to drive or need a parking permit. Due to the policy changes, student tailgates are not allowed to take up spaces in parking lots they do not have permits for.

As a result, student tailgates are relegated to garages on the campus, which cost $15 per space and do not allow grills, or other free surface lots on the campus, such as lots L, K, 16 and C2. Lots L and C2 are located near the Armory, while lots K and 16 are located across Route 1, near Fraternity Row, according to Andrew Baker, with the Department of Transportation Services.

Savoy took the issue into his own hands. As a student manager for the Athletics Department, he met with many high-ranking officials, including Athletics Director Debbie Yow and Associate Athletics Director of Operations and Facilities James Greenwell.

He found the changes were not made to inhibit student tailgating on the campus, but rather to regulate tailgating on a general scale.

"They showed a lot of support and respect for what I was saying, and in many ways wanted me to go out and educate the student body on what was happening and challenge them to change the tailgating culture in a positive direction," Savoy said.

After enduring many meetings, Savoy decided to work on the bill that stated the SGA would begin to work with the Athletics Department, the Department of Transportation Services and University Police toward finding a parking solution for student tailgating.

"Now that it has been passed, I will be able to present this document to the ad-hoc Committee [in the Athletics Department] that meets in the spring and is setting the guidelines for next football season," Savoy said. "I will let them know that the SGA and most of the student body wants to move in a positive direction with tailgating."

"Tailgating is synonymous with sports," added Nick Lumpp, senior finance major. "Without it, a game isn't nearly as fun. If you go to any professional sports event, or any competitive college game, you will see tailgating. If you kill tailgating, you kill your fan support."

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