Walking down Trinity Road is like piercing a vein leading into the hearts of N.C. State football fans. The lots on both sides are packed with bright red flags and banners, Wolfpack decals and tents swarming with devoted fans who can feel the bass of tailgating before they see it.

On any other day these lots are barren, holding a handful of cars for the random events at the fairgrounds. But not on game days; on game days, fans paint the town red.

“[Tailgating] is something that families grow up doing,” Forrest Hinton, student senate president, said. “Some tailgate with alcohol and some with burgers. It’s part of North Carolina’s culture that needs to be preserved.”

Changes to tailgating policies are being discussed within the football task force committee formed by the chancellor in response to the 2004 shootings that left two men dead and an NCSU student behind bars.

“The death of the two young men had an effect on the University’s willingness to evaluate,” Paul Cousins, director of student conduct, said. “A lot of people came out of the woodwork because they felt empowered.”

Fans and alumni sent e-mails and letters about the behavior observed along “F-Bomb Alley” on Trinity Road, writing that the behavior was shocking. Bob Lee Swagger even went as far as to write a column on his Web site (swaggersays.com) warning UNC fans about “the white trash punks” who “are a worse embarrassment to N.C. State than Chris Washburn or Charles Shackleford ever were.”

Others, however, saw no wrongdoing.

Wilmer A. Brantley, a member of the Wolfpack Club for 40-plus years, has been at every home football game this season. He and other fans drink cold, non-alcoholic drinks and eat sandwiches and chicken and enjoy themselves.

“Where I park there’s not a whole lot of students anyway but I have not noticed anything out of the ordinary,” Brantley said.

Matthew Bodi, graduate of 2003, said he knows some acts by students at tailgates are dumb.

“I am pretty sure the alumni [who] complain about the idiocy they see at games were guilty of doing something of that nature or worse when they were growing up,” Bodi said. “They also need to get out and tailgate at other schools if they think that it only happens at State.”

In response to concerns, the committee identified problem areas at the first meeting on Nov. 30. They discussed security and safety enhancements, but one of the biggest issues is alcohol.

“Excessive use of alcohol is the underlying problem and sort of connected to that is the attitude a lot of people have that football games are really just a big party,” Tom Stafford, vice chancellor of student affairs and co-chair of the task force, said.

Adam Whitehouse, campus community chair for the task force, said he thinks the problem goes beyond alcohol.

“The main problem is the environment, the atmosphere and attitudes,” he said. “Changing just one thing won’t solve the problem.”

The committee has the difficult task of drafting solutions to the problem areas in order to provide a safe environment for everyone in the Wolfpack family.

Why drink at games?

It’s an easy answer for Jon Guthrie, junior in mechanical engineering: “Same reason people drink anywhere else — it’s an easy way to have a lot of fun.”

To help eliminate alcohol as a problem, the committee drafted a list of possible solutions. More than 20 solutions made the list, but the two solutions that are causing the most response are the prohibition of kegs and games involving alcohol.

“If they try and ban kegs or drinking games it will, without a doubt, meet with a lot of anger and resentment,” Bodi said. “But as long as they don’t try and outright ban drinking, I think it would blow over after awhile.”

According to Cousins, there’s no discussion about whether or not alcohol will be allowed in the tailgating areas, and nobody’s talking about a dry event. He said the University wants people to have a good time but to be responsible.

Stafford, however, says the issue is up for discussion.

“There may be some people who think that we should ban all alcohol at the games,” he said. “I don’t think that’s likely to be a result or recommendation from the task force but that’s a topic that may be up on the table for discussion.”

Another big issue deals with the no-alcohol policy inside the stadium; a policy frequently broken.

It is legal for people 21 and older to consume liquor, beer and unfortified wine in the tailgate lots, but no alcohol is allowed inside the stadium with the exception of people who have purchased suites in the Vaughn Towers.

Students and fans can easily smuggle airplane bottles into the stadium because of back-up when entering the gates.

There are 50,000 to 60,000 people trying to get into the stadium, according to Dick Christy, assistant athletic director. The gates are congested and there’s little that can be done to prevent alcohol from being brought in.

The current security check at the gates requires fans to open their bags so security personnel can look inside, a seemingly useless technique as most hide the bottles in socks or pockets.

“Sneaking liquor into the stadium is really easy,” Guthrie said. “Short of strip-searching every person, it’s just something that is going to happen.”

Campus Police has an operations center on the top of the Vaughn Towers where a surveillance camera is used to observe students during the game. If they see a student with alcohol they contact their officers and, if the student is found with alcohol in possession, he is ejected from the stadium and sent to student conduct for student sanctions.

The camera, however, has to be pointed at the right spot at the right time.

“It’s very effective if [campus police] are able to focus the camera in a section of the stadium where the consumption of alcohol is taking place,” Stafford said. “But they’ve got to be looking at that spot just at that right moment because people will pour the bottle into their cup and after they put the bottle down you can’t tell that they’re drinking alcohol.”

As many as 20,000 people utilize pass-outs, a policy that allows students or fans to leave the stadium, usually at half-time, and get a pass to come back in. Some of the time, but not all of the time, people leave the stadium to drink more alcohol, according to Stafford.

The policy is causing problems not only by crowding the gates when re-entering the stadium, but also inside the stadium after re-entry.

“[Pass-outs] is another issue we’re going to look at very carefully,” Stafford said. “This is one that will generate a lot of reaction if we were to change it because … people are used to being able to do that.”

More than a game

Committee members discussed the cleaning of the parking areas of non-ticketed fans after kick-off, meaning tailgating would end before the game does and fans without tickets would be sent home early.

“The way that everybody should think about the game is that it’s primarily a football game, that’s the primary event and you go out there because you’re going to a game,” Stafford said. “You’re not going to a party, and there are people who are going to the tailgates right now who have no intention of going to the game.”

For most students and fans, tailgating has become as much a part of the game as the actual game. Many students have traditions and rituals that start on game day and don’t end until early morning.

“Tom Stafford must not understand college sports,” Guthrie said. “It’s about so much more than the game; it’s about the entire experience. It starts when you wake up early in the morning and go to Bojangles’ and goes till late at night when you are tired, sweaty, dirty and can’t wait till next week.”

Numbers don’t lie

John Dailey, assistant director of campus police, said the number of enforcement actions this season were higher because of complaints that students were out of control and had crossed the line between passionate and irresponsible fans.

“I think that there are a number of people [who] think that N.C. State fans have crossed the line,” he said, referencing an article on 850 The Buzz that spoke about fans’ experience in the tailgating lots. “Evidently a number of people thought that things could be brought under control a little bit.”

The 2005 season ended with 144 citations, 81 of which were recorded as students. There were also 66 ejections, 21 of which were students. The most infractions, 111, including two arrests for DWI, occurred during the UNC game on Sept. 24.

“I think that for years we’ve had alcohol violations and fights and assaults,” Cousins said. “We’ve had a lot of alcohol violations. That’s sort of a constant backbeat that’s remained fairly steady.”

Guthrie, who admits to drinking underage at games, said he has never been issued a citation or been ejected from a game.

“Not everyone [who] drinks is a rowdy problem,” he said. “Instead of criminalizing students for having fun they should try to control the people [who] create the problems.”

A national problem

Tailgating problems in relation to alcohol are quickly becoming a national issue.

A USA TODAY survey found 85 percent of schools in the NCAA’s major football-playing Division I-A have designated tailgating areas, 10 percent of which are alcohol-free.

“I think when you look at the feedback information, we’re probably not far out of line with other events,” Christy said. “I think alcohol’s as much an event at other schools as it is here.”

In the mid-1990s the University of Colorado experimentally banned beer sales, decreasing ejections by 50 percent, arrests by 45 percent and student disciplinary actions by 81 percent.

Yale University enacted new tailgating restrictions this season to deter binge drinking and the behaviors associated with it.

Wake Forest University has a separate tailgating lot the public and alumni don’t have to go through or walk around to get into the stadium. It also has a special operations response team that patrols the student lot.

“We do allow kegs but the groups that provide the kegs are responsible for monitoring who drinks,” Brett Hickman, director of operations and facilities, said. Undercover law enforcement busts irresponsible keg providers by posing as students trying to drink without identification or proof of age.

There has only been one incident in the past year, but Hickman declined to comment.

Speaking out

In response to the committee’s proposals, the Interfraternity Council is teaming up with Panhellenic chapters and Student Senate to get the students’ perspectives.

“We all recognize that the tailgating issue is a big issue and a lot of students don’t know what’s happening,” Hinton said. “We need to create some kind of awareness about what’s going on and we want to get a scientific poll.”

The groups are hosting a tailgate in the Brickyard Wednesday from 11 a.m.-1:30 p.m., complete with free food, where they will raise awareness about the possible changes, and conduct a survey of what students want to present to the committee.

The task force emphasizes that no proposals are final and they’re still in the brainstorming stage.

“I wouldn’t say we’re all for or against specific things,” Whitehouse said. “In a big group like this there are some things you won’t agree with and you have to compromise.”