Tailgate cancellation-it's about time

As a Duke student and Durham native, I am always acutely aware that the “Duke bubble” does not extend to athletic events. Non-student football and basketball spectators often consist of my neighbors, my friends’ parents and my parents’ coworkers. I ran into a middle-school-aged girl from my neighborhood at a football game this season, and later found out that she had been relieved to find me so “nicely dressed.” I had been wearing a ratty Duke sweatshirt and basketball shorts, hardly “nice” by real-world standards, but in stark contrast to many of my peers dressed in spandex and drenched in Busch Light. Family members who are Duke alums (even as recent as ’00) have also expressed confusion about and disapproval of Tailgate. Tailgate is not a Duke tradition, and I’m glad to see it go.

Laurel Burk

Trinity ’13