Even Before the Game, Yale Loses

As they prepare to enter Crimson territory later this month, Yalies are red in the face over Harvard’s move to cut down on Elis’ tailgate spots.

Tailgate organizers had originally set aside 18 places for Yale student groups, who occupied 60 spots in 2004. The limited space generated complaints from New Haven.

Yale College Council President Emery J. Choi, a senior, asked Harvard organizers for more space yesterday, and two additional spots were allocated, according to Harvard’s campus life fellow, John T. Drake ’06. He added that the number of spots may be increased according to Yale’s requests.

Harvard revellers are facing a space crunch too. Thirty-four tailgating spots on Ohiri Field have been reserved for Harvard student groups and the 12 House Committees for this year’s Game. In 2004, Harvard groups took up 90 spots, according to a Crimson report at the time. That number included personal vehicles that were granted permits to park on the field, which will not be allowed this year, according to Drake.

Because of the reduced number of plots, each group will have more space than in previous years, Drake said.

Drake said “not a lot” of Harvard student groups that applied for space were rejected, but declined to give an exact number. He added that although fewer groups are participating in this year’s tailgate, it will be more organized.

“I liked the spirit of the more casual tailgates, but the structure we’re trying to put in place with more organizational overhead could actually make for a smoother tailgate,” he said.

Drake said that because organizers at the two schools had trouble getting in touch with each other, Harvard “had to make the map up and move forward.”

All 12 of Yale’s residential colleges were assigned spaces at the tailgate, Drake said. He added that Harvard organizers initially assigned only six additional places to Yale because they thought fewer Yale students would be attending compared to previous years.

“Word through students was that Yalies weren’t as excited about coming here. So we gave them fewer spaces,” he said.

Yale College Council Secretary Zach P. Marks, a sophomore, said the limited space “leaves us in a bind,” calling the situation “unfortunate.”

Several umbrella organizations and final clubs at Harvard are jointly holding tailgates with related groups.

“We all see it as a really great opportunity for all of us to come together and have a great tailgate,” said Christina L. Anderson ’08, president of Fuerza Latina. Anderson is the “tailgate coordinator” of a coalition comprising various Latino organizations that have shared tailgate space in the past. The groups will roast a pig at the tailgate, continuing their tradition of years past.

“We’ll have music, we’ll have a pig, and we’ll have a good time,” she said.

Accompanying the prohibition of bringing in alcohol to Ohiri Field will be a dramatic increase in the number of portable toilets—up from 100 in 2004 to 220 this year. Public urination was a chief complaint of the Boston Police Department two years ago.

The Thursday, Nov. 16 pep rally will be preceded by College-sponsored Stein Clubs in the Houses, and four parties funded by the Dean’s Office will be thrown the following night—two each at the River and in the Quad.

—Staff writer Liz C. Goodwin can be reached at goodwin@fas.harvard.edu.

—Staff writer Katherine M. Gray can be reached at kmgray@fas.harvard.edu.