Email conversations Wednesday between Athletic Director Stevie Baker-Watson and DePauw Interfraternity council chapter presidents led to confusion about tailgating policies on campus, causing some negative feelings toward rules that some thought were "unfair."
The chapter presidents and IFC president Tyler Witherspoon will meet with Baker-Watson today to discuss an email that laid out several policies for tailgating at Saturday's home football game against Washington University - St. Louis.
Issues regarding cars at the tailgate, music and alcohol consumption seemed to be the most controversial of the policies, Baker-Watson explained.
Baker-Watson said that she did think the first home football tailgate on September 8 against St. Olaf College "went well," but that the point of the email was to address some "safety issues." She planned to speak with the presidents at the IFC Wednesday night, but decided to send the email after the meeting was cancelled.
Baker-Watson said there were three areas she wanted to address after regarding the first September 8 tailgate.
The first was the use cars in the "fan friendly" area. She said there was a concern for pedestrians as cars being used to tailgate began to leave the crowded areas early.
The second was music playing. Baker-Watson said she had several complaints about the amount of areas playing loud, and often conflicting, music during the day. She was also concerned with some of the profanity in the songs selected. As a solution to the problem, a student suggested using one common source of music in the middle of the tailgate that would eliminate the "competing music." Baker-Watson said in an interview with The DePauw that individuals will be allowed to play their music Saturday as long as those two guidelines are followed.
The third area of concern was the lack of discretion with alcohol.
"I had said our statement (in regards to alcohol) has always been to be 'discreet' and no hard liquor and no glass bottles," Baker-Watson said. "Dropping 20 cases of beer in the parking doesn't look great, but it doesn't mean we're going to come down on you."
She said the solution is to cover the alcohol from plain view. She said if alums or visiting students see large amounts of alcohol just lying around "suddenly we have the perception of a hardcore party school when I don't think our students deserve that."
Many fraternity presidents declined to comment on the issues addressed in Baker-Watson's email until after the meeting today. Senior Robby Spichiger, President of Beta Theta Pi fraternity, said he thought the changes addressed in the email seemed "really unfair" and hoped Baker-Watson would address and reverse the changes at the meeting. He said that he felt the interfraternity chapter presidents were not involved in the decisions regarding the tailgate.
Baker-Watson said that while some the "changes addressed" in the email might be interpreted as new, "many of them are just reminders."
Angie Nally, director of Public Safety, reiterated that the tailgating policies have been in place and was not a reaction to the Sept. 8 tailgate, which she noted was "really good."
Baker-Watson did add that some of the confusion might have come from her email, which she admitted was "not well-written."
She remained positive about the tailgating experience at DePauw and wants "to work with folks because I want them to have a good time."
"I think it was a great start," she said. "But I'm also experienced enough to know a great tailgate culture doesn't happen in one game. It's going to take a season to figure this out."