First H-Y Game in New Haven Since 2011 Accident To Feature Stricter Tailgating Rules

With kegs banned, U-Haul access restricted, and student tailgates housed on tennis courts, tailgating before this year’s Harvard-Yale football game in New Haven may look much as it does in Cambridge.

Before Harvard takes the field against the Bulldogs on Nov. 23, students will be allowed to tailgate between 8:30 a.m. and 12 p.m. at the “student tailgate village” on courts of Yale’s Cullman-Heyman Tennis Center, similar to the set-up of recent Games hosted at Harvard. Unlike at Harvard, hard alcohol is not explicitly prohibited in Yale’s Harvard-Yale Game tailgating policy, though hard alcohol is prohibited in the tailgating area, according to Yale Assistant Athletic Director Andy Dunn.

Although Harvard’s notoriously strict policies banning kegs and hard alcohol at tailgates have been in place for a number of years, The Game at Yale has traditionally been known for its more relaxed rules. But this November will mark the first time that Harvard students travel to New Haven for The Game since Yale put in place stricter tailgating policies in the wake of a U-Haul accident that resulted in a woman’s death at the 2011 Harvard-Yale game in New Haven.

In January 2012, just weeks after that accident, Yale administrators announced that they, like Harvard, would ban kegs at tailgates. The new regulations also restricted U-Haul access of the tailgate area to approved vendors and required student tailgates to end at kick-off time.

Yale’s efforts to tighten its tailgating policies have not been limited to the restrictions enacted in 2012. Prior to the November 2011 accident, Yale banned glass containers and required attendees over 21 to present IDs and wear wristbands to consume alcohol. Those regulations are still in place.

Reflecting on this year’s tailgating policies, Eliot House Committee Co-Chair Jayshlyn D. Acevedo ’14 said she was concerned about the requirement that student tailgates be broken down by 1:30 p.m., just an hour and a half after the conclusion of the tailgate.

“That’s too early,” Acevedo said. “That puts a lot of burden on HoCo to clean up quickly.”

In light of this restriction, Acevedo said, “Everyone may err on the side of being more simplistic, with less decorations.”

For Harvard’s part, Associate Dean of Student Life David R. Friedrich said that the Office of Student Life’s goal is to ensure that Harvard students are aware of Yale’s policies.

“We work to prepare both the students [who will be] running the tailgate or just attending the tailgate to understand what those are and to know that we have expectations that they’re going to represent Harvard well,” Friedrich said.

—Staff writer Laya Anasu can be reached at laya.anasu@thecrimson.com. Follow her on Twitter @LayaAnasu.

—Staff writer Madeline R. Conway can be reached at mconway@thecrimson.com. Follow her on Twitter @MadelineRConway.

This article has been revised to reflect the following clarification:

CLARIFICATION: Nov. 4, 2013

An earlier version of this article stated that Yale’s tailgating policy for the football game against Harvard does not prohibit hard alcohol. To clarify, while the policy does not explicitly forbid hard liquor, hard alcohol is prohibited in the tailgating area, according to Yale Assistant Athletic Director Andy Dunn.