This Saturday, administrators hope students will congregate on Main West Quadrangle for the football team's march to Wallace Wade Stadium-but they know they'll probably do so in Spice Girls garb and gorilla suits.
The Department of Athletics and University administrators are kicking off the first football game of the season with a host of alternatives to the student-led revelry that has traditionally taken place in the Blue Zone.
Although parking lot festivities will not be prohibited, free food, "inflatable games," and a disc jockey will be provided to foster a celebration that is more supportive of the football program, Vice President for Student Affairs Larry Moneta said.
But some students doubt their beloved pre-kickoff bacchanalia could be replicated in plain view of the Duke Chapel.
"God watching me shotgun beers might be a small deterrent," senior Jackie Dickey said. "I'm going to be in the Blue Zone drinking."
Students and administrators have long disagreed over the appropriate prelude to a game in Wallace Wade.
The University divorced itself from Tailgate in 2006, and Moneta spoke out against the de facto student tradition in a guest column in The Chronicle last September, citing concerns about safety and cleanup. Last year, administrators agreed to provide security and portable toilets for the celebration on the condition that students behave responsibly.
Administrators will offer the same support for Tailgate this year, but they "fantasize" about a game-day scenario in which new offerings on Main West lure students from the parking lot, Moneta said.
Head football coach David Cutcliffe had a hand in planning the festivities on Main West, Moneta noted. The coach does not want students to abandon the Blue Zone Tailgate but hopes they will make their way to Wallace Wade a half hour prior to the game, said Gerald Harrison, assistant director of athletics for football development.
Cutcliffe said at his weekly media luncheon Tuesday that he is familiar with Tailgate culture and understands students want to see a winning product inside Wallace Wade.
"We have a responsibility to campus life that we take seriously to football," said Cutcliffe, who added that he would be willing to meet with selective living group leaders to talk about Tailgate. "It's respect. I'm not going to disrespect anything that happens on this campus. And if Tailgate becomes a disrespect to what we're doing in football, I'm not going to like it. And I'm going to be willing to tell any group that I don't like it, face to face, eyeball to eyeball. I can't take it any more serious than that."
Some students said though they might make game attendance more of a priority, an improved record from the team-rather than new programming-would motivate them most.
"It gets a little disheartening when you watch your team lose over and over again," junior Greg Rivers said. "You start to lose faith."
Sophomore Michelle Crow said the advent of night games introduces exciting social opportunities for students who participate in the game-day festivities. Rather than sleeping off their inebriation with an afternoon nap, students could treat Tailgate as a communal pregame, Crow suggested.
Regardless of how the new offerings alter the tailgate landscape, Rivers said he hopes Dukies will remain united in their quest to forget Saturday afternoons.
"The premise behind Tailgate is a really great one," he said. "It's everyone at Duke on common footing, just hanging out with everyone else. There are no booths, no roped barriers, no divided sections. It's just a mob of people. It's a total cross-section of Duke."
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