New UI campaign will tighten rules on tailgating

More enforcement of open container and drinking laws, vehicle checkpoints and ending drinking in university lots one hour after football games are part of a University of Iowa initiative to curb illegal and unsafe tailgating behavior.

UI officials today announced the “Think Before You Drink” initiative for football season. The program focuses on safe, responsible and legal alcohol consumption during tailgating, UI officials said.

Season ticket holders will get information about the changes in the mail starting this week. E-mail reminders of the rules also will go to ticket holders before each home game.

The vast majority of Hawkeye football fans are responsible tailgaters, Athletics Director Gary Barta said. These changes are aimed at the fans who are not, he said.

“I'm not comfortable allowing those who abuse this privilege to ruin things for the rest of us,” Barta said. “My sense is that the vast majority of Hawkeye fans feel just like I do.”

Many of the rules aren't new. What is new is the emphasis on fans following the rules and laws on gameday, officials said during a press conference Monday. UI officials spent months discussing the tailgating initiative as part of a larger discussion about dangerous alcohol consumption, they said.

Tailgating is seven Saturdays per year, but UI faculty, staff and students deal with problems due to dangerous drinking 365 days a year, Tom Rocklin, interim vice president for student services said. This initiative is one part of that larger picture, he said.

Under the initiative, alcohol consumption in UI parking lots and ramps will be limited to one hour after each game, and all tailgating activities must end two hours after the game.  No alcohol consumption will be allowed after the Oct. 2 night game versus Penn State.

Also after the games, police will step up drunk driving enforcement, with vehicle safety checkpoints, increased road patrols and OWI enforcement teams.

Officers also will increase enforcement of Iowa City's open container law, which prohibits people from carrying open beer, wine and hard lemonades on public sidewalks and roads. Fans still will be allowed to have those items in UI parking lots and ramps, so long as they are of legal drinking age and drinking in a responsible manner, officials said. Open containers of hard liquor on public property are illegal under Iowa law. There will be zero tolerance for public urination, officials said.

A recent change to UI policy allows students to be disciplined by the university for off-campus infractions, under the student conduct code. But students are a small part of the problem when it comes to unsafe tailgating, Rocklin said.

The university after each home game will release a list of those arrested. But changes can't be accomplished only through tickets and arrests, officials said. It requires a shift in behavior and attitudes.

Chuck Green, director of UI Police, said enforcement at first likely will include lots of warnings, as long as fans comply and are not belligerent. But some behavior will result in citations or perhaps arrest, he said. He hopes fans self correct their behavior, so few arrests are needed.

“We are really trying to focus on bad behavior,” Green said.

One group campaigning against Iowa City's 21-only bar ordinance launched a website, criticizing the UI for hypocrisy on this issue. Matt Pfaltzgraf, campaign manager for the Yes to Entertaining Students Safely group, said rules and laws regarding drinkings weren't being enforced for tailgates, and he said UI officials are speaking out about it now as publicity for the November vote on the 21-only bar ordinance. The group's new website is at www.universityofbingedrinking.com.

“The same people that are pushing for the 21 ordinance because of the dangerous levels of binge drinking are the same ones who ignore it every single weekend on their own property,” Pfaltzgraf said. “A lot of it is political posturing and unfortunately the same destructive behavior will keep happening.”

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