Staff Editorial: Shorter tenting period a plus

The rules for admission at Duke will soon be changing, and students who don't take the time to learn about them will be left out in the cold--the cold outside Cameron Indoor Stadium in February, that is.

Head Line Monitor Donald Wine has made slight changes to the tenting and walk-up policies that govern entrance to Duke men's basketball games, which will go into effect pending a Duke Student Government vote later this month. The changes include a shortening of the tenting season, a reduction of the number of people required in white tents during the night and alterations in the procedure for the walk-up lines at both tenting and walk-up games. These revisions should make it easier for students to incorporate tenting into their schedules and increase students' willingness to tent or wait in line for games. However, Cameron failed to attract a large crowd for several non-tenting games last year, and more could have been done to make waiting in line for walk-up games more attractive.

The duration of blue tenting will be shortened to five weeks total this year, as opposed to six weeks last year. Students and faculty complained that a six-week period was too long, and interfered with students' classes attendance, coursework and health. There will be three weeks of blue tenting before the Maryland game on Feb. 22, and two weeks before the Carolina match-up on March 6. One week might not seem significant, but it should relieve some of the pressure on Duke's most committed fans. In addition, students who complete all their personal requirements will be issued wristbands at midnight of the day of the game, rather than having to come back to K-ville in the morning. This will especially benefit freshman, who will not have to make an extra trip to West after a hard period of tent-living. Students choosing to stand in line for walk-up games will no longer be allowed to register in groups of 12.

While these changes are beneficial, Wine and his team could have done more to make the process of attending walk-up games more appealing. As it stands, many juniors and seniors don't attend games, because they don't want to deal with the complications of K-ville. They have put in their time in years past, and want to arrive casually at Cameron to take in a game. One possibility that DSG and Wine should consider emulating is already in place at Carolina. Students who attend non-revenue sports games, like field hockey and soccer matches, receive points or punches on a card. Students with a certain number of points or more could be admitted to non-tenting games first, without having to wait in a line all day. This process would not only increase attendance for basketball games, but would also increase turn-out at non-revenue games. Many Duke students do not make it to watch non-revenue sports many times during their collegiate careers, but a policy like this one would expose people to a greater variety of athletics at the University.