It is difficult to imagine the level of students' outrage if Duke Student Government were to abolish Krzyzewskiville. But officials at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have made a similar decision and received little opposition.
Beginning this season, UNC-CH students will not have to camp out overnight to get a good place in line on game day.
The new system began Wednesday when students stood in line for baby-blue, numbered bracelets. Tomorrow UNC-CH's Carolina Athletic Association will post a number drawn at random that will correspond to one of the bracelets; the holder of the number will be the very first in line on Saturday when tickets to the first three games are distributed. Students with subsequent numbers will follow.
It replaces a system in which students had camped out for their places in line the evenings prior to games and received tickets the morning of the game.
Chapel Hill utilized the new system in a trial run last spring to distribute Garth Brooks concert tickets and dubbed it a success.
Hunter McCrossin, CAA's co-president, said the new system is intended to address a number of issues, such as equal access: Because every UNC-CH student pays a $40 athletic fee, every student should have equal access to games, he said.
"The old policy excluded certain groups: grad students, students with families," McCrossin said. "We also had arguments that the campouts were eurocentric, that the only ones camping out were white males."
The new system will also resolve several safety concerns, McCrossin said. The campouts had been held in the Dean Dome parking lot, and traffic created hazardous situations.
"Technically, people weren't allowed to camp out until [6 p.m.], and when that time came, there were mob scenes," McCrossin said. "People would run to get in line, and cars would zoom by feet away. It was pretty dangerous."
McCrossin added that the new system will curb the missed classes and lost study time. "When you're in a parking lot for 20 hours, and only in class for 15, that's a problem," McCrossin said.
UNC-CH sophomore Sara Beth Norman said she liked the new system because it cuts down on time spent getting tickets. "It's a whole lot easier now," she said. "You don't have to wait for 12 hours in the freezing cold anymore."
In addition, she said she hoped the bracelets will prevent unfairness.
"The campouts for major conference games got crazy. There was no way to control people cutting with their friends-you would get in line in the afternoon behind about 300 people and end up being in the thousands by the next morning."
UNC-CH's new system contrasted with Duke's month-long campouts illustrates the difference between the two schools' fan atmospheres.
Some UNC-CH students cannot understand why Duke fans would dedicate so much time to getting into games.
Wendy Varner, a junior, said of Krzyzewskiville's inhabitants, "I think they're a little out of control. I wouldn't want to camp out all night just for tickets to a basketball game."
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