Tailgates revoked after unruly action
The privilege of Lawn tailgates scheduled before home football games and limited to 40 guests has been rescinded after “disorderly behavior” was displayed before last Saturday’s game against the University of Southern California, according to an e-mail sent to Lawn and Range residents by Dean of Students Allen Groves yesterday morning. Last year, tailgating was limited in the wake of similar incidents that occurred prior to the November home football game against Wake Forest University. The tailgates before the Wake Forest game were “pretty bad,” Groves said, noting that there were several concerns about the size of the crowds on the Lawn and on the West Range. He added that concern also stemmed from episodes of “violence” that ensued before that game, which included the reported throwing of chairs.As a result, Patricia Lampkin, vice president for student affairs, sent an e-mail to Lawn residents earlier this fall announcing a new tailgate procedure that would be applied on a game-to-game basis.The e-mail stated that if the crowd at a Lawn or Range resident’s space “exceeds 40 persons,” the host is “responsible for managing the numbers and sending folks away.”Furthermore, Lampkin stated in the e-mail that the “number of individuals present for gatherings in lawn rooms is limited to 40 because of the impact it can have on other members of the Lawn community and because of the difficulty in managing larger groups.” Groves noted those guidelines were created with the safety of Lawn and Range residents in mind. Events occurring prior to the most recent home football game, however, have resulted in the rescinding of the earlier agreement, Groves said. Crowds of people on the Lawn and in the alleys prior to the USC football game “very quickly got out of control” and made it “an unsafe situation,” Groves said. There was open consumption of alcohol, fist fights, students shouting obscenities and even a “significant amount of urination” on buildings, alleys and bushes, Groves said. Not all Lawn residents, however, agreed with Groves’ assessment of the situation.The tailgate crowds appeared to be “under control,” Lawn resident Greg Kauffmann said. “Any disruption was from USC.”Sydney Owens, another Lawn resident, similarly said she did not think the crowd was unruly. She did, however, “see a lot of Lawn residents try to keep things under control,” she said. Ownes added that “the people from USC were making it difficult.”Although the pre-game crowds appeared calm to some Lawn residents, Groves also said the crowds proved particularly disruptive to pavilion residents and their families who encountered tailgate-goers. Commerce School Dean Carl Zeithaml, a pavilion resident, said he has noticed an increasingly out-of-control, rowdy atmosphere, especially before the 2007 Wake Forest game and last week’s USC game.“It is not the Lawn residents,” he said, noting that he saw one non-University community member toting a 12-pack of beer on the Lawn. “By and large, it’s not even U.Va. students. But the number of students has grown ... and the parties have gotten bigger.”Zeithaml noted that even though he has long been a self-proclaimed proponent of letting college students be college students, there is still a line that should not be crossed prior to home games.“When you have fights breaking out and when you have the Lawn, perhaps one of the most important and symbolic architectural monuments, being treated as a public bathroom ... that’s clearly crossing the line,” Zeithaml said.Like Zeithaml, Groves also noted that some Lawn residents tried to deal with the difficult situation last weekend.“A number of students who reside on the Lawn tried to control the situation,” Groves said, but the behavior displayed Saturday demonstrated that “the present procedure isn’t working.” As a result, Groves said, it has become necessary to limit the number of guests of a Lawn or Range resident prior to a home football game to the number of people that can be “safely” enclosed within the boundaries of a resident’s room. Outdoor tables as well as a “general gathering in the area” near the rooms are now prohibited, the e-mail stated.In taking this action, Groves also emphasized in the e-mail that he is willing to set aside time to meet with the Lawn and Range residents, and to talk about possible approaches for future home football games remaining this season. “I want to hear from them,” Groves said about Lawn residents, noting that he would like to use the month’s time between this upcoming Saturday and the next home game to find a viable solution to the tailgating problem. In this regard, Groves said he has already reached out to head Lawn resident Christian West and others to arrange a discussion of the procedures with residents.Fixing the problem, though, Zeithaml said, goes beyond having a discussion.“Everyone [students, non-students and University administrators and staff] bears responsibility to change the situation, so that people can have fun but not create something that is dangerous and, frankly, embarrassing to the University,” Zeithaml said.Editor’s note: Editor-in-Chief Elizabeth Mills did not edit this article, as she is a Lawn resident.