Yale: Tailgate Will Be Dry

After facing tightened alcohol restrictions at the Harvard-Yale tailgate three years in a row, students will be greeted by regulations very similar to those at the last Yale-hosted Game, according to a list of rules released yesterday by Yale administrators.

Each Harvard House and Yale residential college will be allowed to park one vehicle shorter than 14 feet in length in the student tailgate space. There had been uncertainty about whether student groups would be allowed to bring U-Hauls and other similarly sized vehicles into the tailgate area.

Other student groups will be able to purchase parking passes for $13 on a first-come, first-served basis.

Students with a Harvard or Yale ID can also look forward to inflatable games, free t-shirts for the first 1,000 students to arrive, and free food and drinks in the “Yale Harvard Student Village,” which will be held next to the student tailgate area.

As in 2005, drinking games and drinking game paraphernalia will not be allowed into the tailgate and the tailgate will be shut down at the start of The Game’s third quarter.

Yale officials voted to maintain the policy that residential colleges and Houses must have dry tailgates—a mandate that was in place, but not enforced, two years ago—though other student groups that are tailgating may serve alcohol, said Emily Schofield, a junior at Yale and the vice president of the Yale College Council.

However, this will be the first Game at Yale since a Connecticut state law criminalizing the possession of alcohol on private property by those under the age of 21 was passed last year.

But Yale junior Zack Klion said that existing alcohol restrictions will probably not factor into a lot of students’ plans for the tailgate and The Game.

“I really honestly am not even that aware of the restrictions,” Klion said. “I don’t plan on abiding by any of them—and I think that would be the general student consensus.”

One change that will be in effect this year—though not related to alcohol policy—is that student groups will not be permitted to provide their own music. Instead, the Yale athletics department will hire student DJs to provide music at the tailgate.

Assistant Dean of the College Paul J. McLoughlin II wrote in an e-mailed statement that while tailgate regulations differ between the two schools, both share common goals and difficulties in hosting the event each year.

“Yale and Harvard have worked diligently to keep this long tradition alive while also recognizing that without rules and restrictions it may no longer be possible to do so,” McLoughlin said.

—Staff writer Aditi Balakrishna can be reached at balakris@fas.harvard.edu.