Run with DevilsGate (safely)

As football season approaches, much-deserved enthusiasm is mounting on campus for what our new and improved Blue Devils squad has to offer. In past seasons, Duke football often found itself at the bottom of the Atlantic Coastal Conference, but over the past few years, the team has fought hard to better records with greater victories. Their energy on the field and in practice demands a matching energy on campus from students. With opportunities for participating in the men’s basketball experience every way you turn, the stage is set for students to take part in Duke Student Government’s most recently approved project: DevilsGate Tailgate. At football schools across the country, college tailgates are a pre-football game celebration that gets student fans hyped for games with food, drink, games and entertainment.

But DevilsGate is not the first tailgate program Duke has had. Not even the current seniors remember the bacchanalian tradition of Tailgate. Though beloved by party-minded students and tolerated at best by the administration even in its better years, Tailgate was abruptly cancelled in 2010 after a student’s underage sibling was found passed out in a Porta-Potty. Fortunately, DevilsGate was devised with the lessons of Tailgate in mind to not be some Tailgate substitute, instead moving far away from its wild unruliness. The lack of strict regulation and policy compliance at the old Tailgate created a toxic alcohol culture with consequences for health, property damage and Duke’s reputation as a host. Administrators struggled for years with tweaking and changing the program to combat its many downsides but found little success preventing the start of game day from degenerating dangerously every time. Oftentimes, students did not even attend the football games after partaking in Tailgate.

With the end of old Tailgate behind us and promising football seasons ahead of us, we should aim to create a celebratory atmosphere that genuinely fetes our team’s victories and successes. This year’s freshman class has more reason than previous classes to be eager for football games given their fresh eyes. The season opener game against Tulane drew unprecedented attention on East Campus, which is hopefully indicative of an increase in students following football. Students are discussing football in more than a passing mention today, certainly compared to five or 10 years ago. Upperclassmen should not count themselves out either. Every season is an opportunity, and between improvements in our recruiting and Wallace Wade, there is lots to be excited for.

We believe DevilsGate will be critical in sparking student interest in football. Just as tenting enthuses students for basketball, having regular tailgate parties on West Campus will create a space for football enthusiasm to show itself. DSG has also worked to commendable effect with administration and the Athletics Department to work out the program’s alcohol policy, student organization tents, free food and Main Quad location. 20 to 30 so-called “Gatekeepers” will organize the details of every DevilsGate, but of course the responsibility is on students to keep DevilsGate safe and earn the administration’s trust to expand the program in the future.

After this year and student participation willing, we anticipate growth in DevilsGate. A move to K-Ville would of course put the celebration closer to Wallace Wade for starters and possibly make it easier to provide grills for students to use, and we hope that students not affiliated with the pre-registered tents are not discouraged from spending time at DevilsGate and then attending games. But the most important hope we have is not for administration or DSG to execute but for students to take this chance with a new athletic tradition and make us a football school—safely, of course.