The Oakland Post

Keep it classy, Grizzlies

By editors
Posted: Tuesday, January 25th, 2011 at 11:00 pm | Last Updated: Tuesday, January 25th, 2011 at 11:03 pm Comments Print This Email This Tweet This Delicious

When parents let their kids go out with friends, they do so knowing full well that their kids are probably doing more than “studying” and “hanging out.”

We wonder if that’s the way Oakland University felt when it authorized this year’s homecoming tailgate.

Saturday’s tailgate, which will last from approximately 12:30-3:15 p.m., is the first ever school-sanctioned tailgate that allows alcohol.

We certainly hope this drives attendance to the men’s and women’s basketball games that follow — and that high game attendance becomes a continuing trend — but even more, we hope that students don’t misbehave and cause this to be the last event of its kind at OU.

At Monday’s student congress meeting, OU President Gary Russi expressed enthusiasm for the event.

“I think there are 185 spots available for the tailgate. 185. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if all 185 spots were taken? And each spot brought the maximum of 20 guests? That would be pretty cool for our first tailgate experience,” Russi said.

While he did sarcastically warn that he might eat everyone’s food, he also said he’d like to see more tailgates in the future.

Because you probably overlooked the guidelines, here’s what you’ll need to know for Saturday:

You need to register your car with the Center for Student Activities, no more than 20 people per car and you must park in P-16; propane grills are permitted for cooking, but no open fires or fire pits; no glass bottles and no kegs, punch bowls or other open containers; and no binge drinking or drinking games.

And, of course, no public intoxication or disorderly conduct.

Most of that probably goes without saying. But we’re college students. Telling us not to binge drink is like giving someone the keys to a souped-up Corvette and telling them they can’t drive over 30 mph.

But in such a short time frame, we don’t expect this to be a problem. The rule we’re most worried about being broken should be the most obvious: You must be 21 to drink.

Don’t get us wrong. We endorse this activity. We endorse it so much we want to see it become a regular staple of OU homecoming. In fact, we’d like to see such tailgates before every home basketball game.

But we’d like to see Saturday’s games set a record for attendance — not a record for minor in possession of alcohol citations.

In a previous editorial, we asked students to “take the plunge and begin being a true grizzly.”

If a tailgate doesn’t get you riled up for athletics, we don’t know what will.

We ask, however, that students don’t get too riled up.

This Saturday, “being a true grizzly” means making sure a few rowdy students don’t ruin the event for everyone else.

Because as much as we enjoy our ever-popular Police Files, we don’t wish to see it littered with students who got carried away at the school’s first-ever alcoholic tailgate.

While we’re not expecting another buzzer-beater this year, let’s hope students aren’t too buzzed to enjoy Saturday’s games.

In other words: Keep it classy.