Harvard Undergraduate Council President Matthew Mahan announced Thursday the final regulations for tailgates at the Nov. 20 Harvard-Yale football game in Cambridge, Mass.
Harvard made three major changes since releasing tentative regulations last week. First, guests who are not currently enrolled at Yale or Harvard will be allowed to enter the general tailgate at Ohiri Field, but only after purchasing a $10 ticket. Second, students over 21 years of age will be required to wear wristbands in order to be served alcohol at the tailgates. In addition, Harvard awarded Yale student groups 10 additional tailgate spots at the field, bringing the total number of Yale tailgate slots to 60.
These new regulations were announced after Harvard obtained a liquor license Wednesday afternoon. All other previously-announced regulations, such as bans on kegs, U-Hauls and Winnebagos, and limits on the amount of alcohol each person can carry into the tailgate — 20 gallons of malt beverages, one gallon of hard alcohol and three gallons of other alcoholic beverages — remain the same.
Previously, only current Yale and Harvard students and recent alumni were to be allowed into the Ohiri Field tailgate. The change allows all alumni and guests access to the tailgate. Mahan said the $10 charge for guest passes is necessary to cover the costs of maintaining the tailgate regulations, which include paying policemen and a liquor distributor.
“Because the tailgate has to be managed, it’s really, really expensive,” said Mahan, a Harvard senior.
Harvard asked the YCC to contribute $2,000 toward a total of $9,400 to fund a joint barbecue for Cantabs and Elis. But after surveying Yale’s residential college councils, the YCC declined to participate in the barbecue and will not pay the $2,000, several YCC officers said.
Obtaining Harvard’s liquor license from the city licensing board was the last step in settling tailgate regulations, Mahan said.
“We did get the liquor license and the entertainment license,” Mahan said. “Basically everything’s set to go.”
Harvard tailgate organizers had experienced an unexpected delay in obtaining the license when liquor distributor United Liquors pulled out of its agreement to provide beer for the tailgate in early October. Mahan said Harvard has since found another distributor to replace United Liquors, but declined to name the company, saying inaccurate press coverage in the Harvard Crimson had led United Liquors to bow out.
The new distributor has agreed to provide kegs of beer and serve alcohol to tailgaters, and is planning to check identification and provide wristbands for those over 21 years of age.
YCC President Andrew Cedar ’06 said he was pleased Yale student organizations have been allotted 60 parking spaces for the tailgate.
“With the extra 10 spaces that we’re going to have, most people who applied will get a space,” Cedar said.
The YCC will soon distribute the 60 tailgate spots to various student organizations, YCC Vice-President Chance Carlisle ’05 said Thursday. Each residential college will receive two spots and the remaining 36 will be distributed to other groups, he said.
“We plan to review the applications over the weekend and notify people as early as Monday or Tuesday of next week,” Carlisle said.
The council will take into account organizations’ “tailgating tradition” as well as the number of people involved in the organization when deciding how to award spots, Carlisle said.
The only significant detail of the tailgate the YCC is still unsure of is the location of all the parking spaces, Carlisle said. But Harvard Special Assistant for Social Programming Zac Corker said he will soon send the YCC a map of the tailgate spots.
With the tailgate regulations finalized, Corker said, there is only aspect of the weekend to be determined.
“The outcome of the game is somewhat in doubt,” Corker said jokingly. “But not quite.”