Dry Campus, Wet Parking Lot? When Visitors Bring Booze
By Abigail Wisniewski
Football fans, both visiting and home, have been known to tailgate before Bulldog games in the parking lot outside Bulldog Stadium. While firing up a grill, displaying team flags and tossing a few cornhole bags are welcome tailgate traditions, there is one missing element that sets Concordia tailgates apart: alcohol.
Though blurry, the zoomed in photo show cans that appear to be Busch Light, feet away from Bulldog Stadium.
The orange and blue cans are comparable to the design of Busch Light.
Photo courtesy of Tobin Beck
Concordia is a dry campus, meaning no alcohol is allowed on school property. This extends not only to Concordia students and fans, but to anyone on campus for any event. What happens then when visiting fans like the Morningside spectators in these pictures crack open a cold one on campus?
“It’s not permitted on campus,” Vice President for Student Affairs and Athletics, Gene Brooks said. “In particular it has happened with football games where people want to tailgate and they’ll bring alcohol. When we become aware of that, either security or myself or even an RA or an RC will ask them to make sure that they get it off campus…if it’s involving minors police will be involved.”
Brooks also noted that in some cases, visiting fans are not aware that Concordia is a dry campus, and are cooperative when approached.
“There are a couple schools that seem to not respect that as much,” Brooks said. “We’ve tried to be proactive with those in the past and prior to the game we’ll send an email, or our athletic director will send an email to their athletic director and remind them of our policy and ask them to remind their fans of that and ask them to respect it.”
If the university is made aware of alcohol on campus in retrospect, they can communicate with the other university to let them know there was an incident.
“I think that our security staff has done a good job of being aware during home competitions that this is something that can happen,” Brooks said.
