Despite controversy surrounding its possible demise, tailgate has continued this year with hundreds of students flocking to the Blue Zone's front parking lots before football games.
The tradition's new form, however, has led some students to complain about an increase in trash in the lots frequented by Saturday-morning revelers.
"There's been broken glass everywhere-it feels like there's a lot more trash," said sophomore Kevin Jang. "I parked down here earlier and there were just random pieces of broken wood."
Last year, tailgate was regulated by the University administration and limited to a specific parking lot in the back of the Blue Zone. But now that the University has divorced itself from the event, students are spread throughout more lots, especially those in the front.
Larry Moneta, vice president for student affairs, said he had not heard any significant complaints about tailgate trash.
By Sunday afternoon, beer cans, trash bags and Solo cups-remnants of the previous day's events-were scattered in between parked cars in the first two lots.
As in past years, the Navy Reserve Officers Training Corps is in charge of cleaning up after the event. In order to raise organizational funds, ROTC has a contract with the University to clean up the area.
Members of the NROTC were split on whether the volume of trash had increased from last year.
"It's definitely a much larger mess, now that the University doesn't sponsor tailgate anymore," said sophomore Brett Sauers, an NROTC member.
He explained that a number of changes-including the dearth of University-placed trash cans and the non-restricted area of tailgate-has caused problems for the clean-up crew.
"It's bad for us cleaning because there's trash everywhere and people can go out in any lot," Sauers said.
Other NROTC members, however, said the problem was similar to or has otherwise decreased from last year.
"As far as cleaning up it takes less time, it's a little less exciting," said sophomore Ash Gravely, another NROTC member. "We still find the same things: funny sunglasses, pieces of costumes and the occasional used condom."
Both NROTC members and other students also suggested the central problem may be the location, not volume, of post-tailgate garbage.
"Tailgate's on a much smaller scale this year, but I feel like [the trash] is more noticeable because it's all in the front lot," said junior Sara Reynolds.
Additionally, because students are more likely to return to the front lots before cleaning has occurred, the disposal of trash becomes more difficult for clean-up crews.
"People move their cars over the garbage," said sophomore Kat Danziger, an NROTC member. "If the administration didn't let people park in the first lot until we've cleaned up that would probably help us."
Iza Wojciechowska contributed to this story.
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