Parents want tailgating at University

College football stadiums and parking lots across the country are flooded with alcoholic tailgating on game days as fans cheer on their team, catch up with friends and chow down on barbecue. Stokes Stadium is not one of them.

Members of the Touchdown Club, a club for parents of football players, are trying to change the school's policy on alcohol at Truman tailgating.

Provost Troy Paino said Truman is a dry campus, meaning no alcohol is permitted on University property and the promotion of alcohol consumption on campus is prohibited.

Paino said he was aware that members of the Touchdown Club had spoken with University President Darrell Krueger about changing the alcohol policy on football game days.

"The President has made a decision, and I think it's a very wise decision," Paino said. "This is a long-standing policy at the University, and it should not be overturned by an interim."

Paino cited liability and safety concerns as two of the main reasons for prohibiting alcohol during tailgating.

"Instead of trying to monitor on a case-by-case basis, the University has decided that for now, it is best to not allow alcohol on campus," he said. "As people drink, it creates more opportunities for bad things to happen to good people. The prohibition is to try to protect University liability and students and fans at football games."

Jerry Hughes, athletic director at the University of Central Missouri, said that his campus allows alcohol during tailgating events on two parking lots near the stadium.

"If you're 21, you can use alcohol two hours before the game and up through halftime," Hughes said.

After halftime, all consumption of alcohol must cease.

Jerry Wollmering, director of athletics at Truman, said many people enjoy tailgating without alcohol.

"I don't think the definition of tailgating requires alcohol in it," Wollmering said. "You can pull up in our lot and throw the football around or whatever, but most of the people in our society associate [alcohol] with tailgating.

"The biggest reason people tailgate is [that] they want to connect and socialize with friends and family."

Wollmering said he would support a policy that allows fans to tailgate with alcohol before the game, but stop once the game starts.

"I think more people would tailgate around the stadium and obviously if that means more tailgating, if more people do come, that could be a monetary effect at the ticket gate," he said.

Nancy Mayszak, a member of the Touchdown Club, has organized tailgates at a car wash just off of campus, which the club is calling "The Dog Pound." She said 150 people showed up to tailgate at the first home game of the season.

Mayszak said she would like to work with the University to get official tailgating on campus.

"I'm getting a lot of positive feedback from the community," she said. "We already have businesses involved with the tailgates. Everyone I've talked to has been very positive about it and realizes it could be really good for the University."