U.Va. curtails on-campus tailgating

By Brian McNeill
Media General News Service
Published: September 5, 2008

Hundreds of football fans. Trash strewn about. At least one fistfight. A bit of vomiting. And public urination - on cars, in historic alleyways and on the steps of the Rotunda.

That was the scene several people saw at the university’s Lawn in the hours leading up to UVa’s Saturday afternoon football game against the University of Southern California.

As a result, UVa has banned the popular tailgate parties on the Lawn and the Range for the university’s home game Saturday against the University of Richmond.

“As many of you know, this past Saturday’s pre-game activities in an around the Academical Village resulted in excessive crowds and several incidents of poor behavior ranging from impolite to physically aggressive, and in general created a climate that was disrespectful to this important historical site and also potentially unsafe to you, other students and our guests,“ wrote Allen W. Groves, UVa’s associate vice president and dean of students, in an e-mail sent Thursday to the roughly 100 students who live in the prestigious Lawn and Range dorms.

Previously, residents of the Lawn and the Range were allowed to host receptions or tailgate parties on game days in front of their rooms with as many as 40 guests. Each of the parties required pre-approval. “In practice,“ Groves wrote, “this procedure is simply not working.“

For Saturday’s game, no receptions or tailgates will be allowed. The residents may have guests, but only inside their room.

UVa also will be distributing additional trashcans and portable toilets around the Lawn area for Saturday’s football game.

On the day of the USC game, 24 residents of the Lawn and the Range got permission to host a tailgate party. If the maximum number of guests shown up, that would have placed nearly 1,000 football fans on the Lawn. Plus, many alumni and other passersby saw the crowds and joined the parties. As the crowds grew, things spiraled out of control, witnesses said.

“There were a lot of people here,“ said Bernice Ramirez, a fourth-year student who lives on the Lawn. “We want this place to be safe and fun for everyone. We want to have these get-togethers, but we also want to preserve this place.“

Groves himself saw people urinating in public. “I had to personally step in,“ Groves said. “I said, ‘This is a historic place. Don’t do that.‘“

Groves also had to reprimand a young UVa fan who was shouting obscenities at every USC fan who walked by.

Groves praised the many UVa students who live on the Lawn and Range and tried to keep things under control. Many of them, he said, stuck around during the game to help clean up. The troublemakers, he said, were not necessarily UVa students or alumni.

The vast majority of people were behaving themselves, UVa administrators said, but the size of the crowd simply grew beyond anyone’s ability to manage it.

“The Lawn is like a magnet on football weekends for alumni, students and friends,“ said UVa spokeswoman Carol Wood. “A lot of them join the festivities.“

Saturday’s unruly behavior was not the first time that football fans made a mess of the historic heart of UVa. During last year’s game against Wake Forest University, a rowdy crowd convened on the Lawn. Several chairs were thrown, witnesses said.

Following the Wake Forest incidents, the university banned tailgate parties on the Lawn and the Range for the football team’s final game of the season against Virginia Tech.

UVa’s administration and residents of the Lawn and the Range will meet in the coming weeks to find ways to avoid a repeat of the unruly behavior on game days.

“It’s important for us to have that dialogue,“ Ramirez said.