Students Seek To Improve Tailgate

A newly formed student-advisory commission consisting of House Committee (HoCo) chairs and other student leaders will meet this week to discuss ways to better this year’s Harvard-Yale tailgate, according to Campus Life Fellow John T. Drake ’06.

Just last week, the College announced that no student will be allowed to bring alcohol onto Ohiri Field this year, following the College’s negotiations with the Boston Police Department (BPD). The announcement created some concern among students.

But Drake said he plans to use the advisory group’s suggestions to improve the tailgate.

“The dean’s office is very interested to hear suggestions from this group and to work with students to plan a successful tailgate,” wrote Drake, who is organizing the commission.

When asked if the commission’s recommendations could result in changes to the alcohol policy, however, Drake wrote that the goal is to “find ways to make the tailgate the best it can be within the scope of the laws of the Commonwealth and the rules set forth by the Boston Police Department and the deans.”

The new rules have left some students searching for options beyond the traditional Ohiri Field tailgate.

The president of the Black Students Association (BSA), Jason C. B. Lee ’08, the student commission he will be able to “find alternatives” to the current plan for the tailgate.

“The Harvard-Yale tailgate is the social apex of the year and we do recognize that alcohol is a part of that,” Lee said, adding that the BSA might hold its own party before The Game as a “last resort” if no compromise can be reached.

Daniel Gonzalez-Kreisberg ’07, the co-chair of Cabot HoCo, said before last night’s HoCo meeting that Cabot HoCo would likely wait for more campus communication before trying to come up with tailgate plans.

“There’s a question of whether HoCos are going to come together or whether each individual HoCo will try to do its own thing which hasn’t been answered,” Gonzalez-Kreisberg said.

While Drake did not speculate on what the committee might recommend, Lee said he hoped the committee would work on “centralizing [the tailgate], turning it into a party atmosphere, bringing back the kegs.”

But Lee’s ideal compromise may not be possible: kegs have been banned from Ohiri Field since 2002.

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