A new tradition begins

The idea of a Greek on-campus tailgate was initially met with a lot of skepticism from the student body at the University of Maryland, but most of that skepticism has been transformed into praise after the tailgate occurred on Saturday.

“It was a lot of fun having the entire Greek community in one place,” junior economics major Katherine Miller said.

“It felt like we were all a part of something whole rather than being restricted to only a few different places.”

With a ticket to the football game and a wristband, students could attend a tailgate located in a grassy area next to Comcast Stadium where fraternities set up tents.

This is completely different than the typical UMD tailgate, which is usually located in the backyards of homes rented by fraternities in College Park.

“I really liked it because it was fun to actually tailgate for the game instead of just hanging out in someone’s backyard,” sophomore engineer major Connor Beatson said.

Having tailgates in the neighborhoods of College Park has also been putting a major strain on the relationship between students and residents.

The combination of loud music and hundreds of students partying in one area constantly violates noise ordinances, and front yards are left littered with empty beer cans and liquor bottles.

“The tailgate ensured that no damage was done to any properties,” senior criminology major Ben Seider said.

“It promotes safety, and authorities can watch over a group in one place instead of patrolling neighborhoods.”

Additionally, the tradition of tailgating at UMD tends to decrease participation in actually attending the game. This may be partially because the homes where tailgates occur are all about twenty minutes away from Byrd Stadium.

With a move to the Big Ten right around the corner, it is important that student attendance rises at games.  By moving the tailgates to an area closer to the football stadium, many hope that students will begin attending the games.

“We need to start tailgating the way other Big Ten schools tailgate,” letters and sciences major Patrick Kendall said.

“Tailgating on-campus should encourage more people to actually attend the game and support the football team.”

Nevertheless, it is hard to say if students will actually begin attending the games.  Although the student section was uncharacteristically full on Saturday, there were plenty of students that went to the tailgate and still did not go to the game.

“Eventually people are going to want to watch us play Big Ten teams,” Seider said.

“It is just going to take some time for students to get used to the change.”

Even though the tailgate went smoothly, there is definitely still some room for improvements.

The only people who initially receive wristbands are members of fraternities. Each frat is given 1.5 times the amount of wristbands as the number of members in their chapter to distribute amongst themselves and friends.

“More wristbands need to be made available to give to girls in sororities, or just to people who are not involved in Greek life,” Kendall said.

There are also still some students that have not been convinced that this change to tailgating on campus should be permanent.

“At off-campus tailgates we have more freedom to do what we want, and make it a specialized tailgate instead of everyone in a big clustered area,” sophomore engineer major Alex Chiramonte said.

“I did like that I could see everyone at one time though.”

For now, it is hard to say if these tailgates will start occurring every home game.  Based on Saturday’s results, it is probable to say that another one will occur at UMD’s next home game against Clemson on October 26th.