A little over a year following the State Board of Education’s (SBOE) denial of University of Idaho’s proposal to designate alcohol-friendly areas during tailgating and UI is taking the policy back to the drawing board.
Conflict remains between UI and the City of Moscow in regard to the policy of consuming alcohol at tailgate parties during home football games, and it is back to the SBOE to finalize a decision on the situation.
According to police regulation, “(Open container) ordinance shall not be in effect between the hours of 10 a.m. and 10 p.m. in any place located within Sixth Street to the north, South Rayburn to the east and south, and Perimeter Drive to the west and south on days when the University of Idaho has home football games.”
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The regulations state that all alcoholic beverages consumed within the perimeters must be in an opaque, unlabeled plastic or paper container.
The conflict between the city’s regulations and the university’s is that UI is state-owned property, and open drinking on such property is banned. However, the SBOE has the power to change this.
UI General Council Kent Nelson said the proposed policy, which has not been fully approved yet, would give UI President Chuck Staben power in delegating specific zones to consume alcohol.
“Simply put, the proposed new policy would allow the president to designate areas in the UI parking lots where legal consumption of alcohol would be allowed for those tailgating in conjunction with a home football game,” Nelson said. “The official policy of the Board of Regents currently is that alcohol is not allowed in the university parking lots where tailgating is done, in conjunction with a home football game.”
SBOE spokesman Blake Youde said the policy was proposed by the university during their recent board meeting in August with the SBOE.
“Essentially (the policy) will do two things,” Youde said. “The first will be to assign parking lot sections specifically for pre-game drinking. The second is to identify specific venues where universities across Idaho may distribute and sell alcohol to those in attendance.”
Youde said there must be two individual votes that must happen in order to enact this new policy, and that the first vote this August was 7-1, for.
Youde said a large contributing factor to the back-and-forth drinking policy was because the current policy is constantly being asked to be changed or wavered by universities across the state.
“It becomes very tedious to have to come back to this subject every year,” Youde said.
Alpha Kappa Lambda Fraternity president Quinten Gaff echoed Youde’s statements.
“(The policy on tailgating) shouldn’t be up for debate on a year-to-year basis,” Gaff said. “Instead of the rules changing from university to university, it should be an umbrella-type of policy across the state. (The SBOE) should just make it one way and stick to it.”
Gaff said while he believes that no alcohol at tailgates is undoubtedly the safest option, it is not the most realistic.
“The obvious safest choice would be no alcohol anywhere,” Gaff said. “But obviously (alcohol consumption) is so ingrained in the college-going culture that I feel a completely dry game is never going to happen.”
Gaff said tailgating is a commonality between the undergrads and the alumni, and that the ability to connect with alumni is important to him and his fraternity brothers.
“Every year everybody comes back for homecoming, or our founders. They come back to support their team and tailgate with us — it’s a common ground between us that we can all enjoy.”
Andrew Ward may be reached at [email protected]