Two weeks after an incident at a Yale University tailgate killed a person, administrative officials have begun a review of the school’s tailgating policies.
At a tailgate before the annual Harvard-Yale football game Nov. 19, Brendon Ross, a Yale junior, lost control of a U-Haul transporting beer kegs. The vehicle accelerated into the crowd, hitting three women. One of the women was Nancy Berry, a 30-year-old Massachusetts resident, who was pronounced dead less than an hour after being struck.
The incident at Yale comes just one year after the accident at Duke’s tailgate where a minor, who was the guest of a student, was found unconscious in a Porta Potty. Although the accident at Duke prompted the cancelation of tailgate in its entirety, how Yale’s tailgate polices will shift in light of recent events has yet to be determined, said George Hunter, a junior at Yale who was present at the incident.
“Every tailgate from now on will definitely be different, whether that has to do with new rules or with a sense of not being able to enjoy it as much,” Hunter said.
The Yale College Dean’s Office and Yale Athletics along with Yale’s Council of Masters, Yale Secuirty and Yale Police Department have begun an official review of Yale’s current tailgate policy, the Yale Daily News reported Monday.
The review will take into account tailgate policies at other universities, Yale Press Secretary Tom Conroy wrote in an email Tuesday.
Conroy said there is no timetable in place for Yale’s revision of its tailgate policy, and it is still unclear what the review process will ultimately conclude. He declined to comment further on the review process.
Yale administrators did not contact Duke in the aftermath of the incident, Vice President of Student Affairs Larry Moneta wrote in an email Wednesday. Moneta noted that he did not expect any correlation between Yale’s “tragic circumstances” and Duke’s Football Gameday policies.
Janet Lindner, associate vice president for administration at Yale, declined to comment.
Duke Student Government President Pete Schork, a senior, said that although the Duke administration canceled Tailgate after the incident last year, Yale’s tailgate has an extensive tradition behind it that could make it difficult for the university to parallel Duke’s decision.
“If you look at Duke’s example, we didn’t have the same strong tradition to pull upon [as Yale], so it was easier for the institution mandate to get rid of Tailgate,” Schork said. “We are trying to create traditions, while Yale is trying to maintain a tradition.”
If Yale takes Duke’s new Football Gameday policies into account, the university will likely have the administration mandating certain risk management necessities going forward in light of what happened, Schork added.
Unlike Duke’s, Yale’s incident was not directly related to alcohol consumption though the U-Haul driven by Ross was transporting alcohol. Ross passed a sobriety test on the day of the incident, The Washington Post reported Nov. 20.
Yale officials are now combatting accusations that Ross committed manslaughter. Despite differences in the incidents, both have spurred discussions about tailgate traditions creating dangerous situations for students and those unaffiliated with the universities.
Yale’s current revision of its tailgate policy is not the first in recent history. In 2005, administration officials added a ban on drinking games, drinking game paraphernalia, tailgating after halftime and climbing on vehicles. In 2007, Yale’s administration continues to push more strict restrictions on tailgates and even proposed a complete ban of the use of U-Hauls citing safety and health concerns. Met with strong opposition by the student body, the U-Haul proposal was ultimately defeated, according to a Yale Daily News article Nov. 7, 2007.
This year, the Yale administration enforced more stringent tailgate policies to encourage safety, such as requiring wristbands upon entry to the tailgate to indicate if a student is 21-years-old.This was an alternative to the administration’s original proposal to ban alcohol completely, but students aggressively protested and prevented the ban from passing.
“It is hard to say now [how tailgate policies will change] because there will not be a tailgate until next Fall, so it all depends on what happens with the administration,” Hunter said. “I think they will change the policies on U-Hauls or the policies on students driving U-Hauls to tailgates.”
As Yale begins to re-examine its tailgate policies, Duke continues to make changes to its own. In the administration’s mind, the Yale incident likely confirmed its decision to cancel Duke’s former Tailgate, Schork said. After a football season with new regulations limiting size and number of Gameday festivities, DSG is currently seeking ways to revive a form of tailgating that more students can enjoy while simultaneously collaborating with administration.
“We recognize that students were not pleased with [Gameday] this year,” Schork said. “We’re working on trying to get a new venue within the athletic complex, and then the next steps are engaging the student body and working on how to establish a tailgate that’s fun but honors our community at the same time.”
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