Camera crews were busy setting up equipment at the Belltower.
Campus Police was in position and members of the adminstration watched from the sidelines. Student Government had tables set up with a petition waiting to be signed.
And fewer than 30 students waited around Tuesday at 4 p.m. for the rally to begin.
“It’s kind of embarrasing,” Catherine Bebout, freshman in animal science, said. “There could definitely be more people here.”
Others were impressed with the turnout, though, not expecting many students to come at all.
“[It’s]a lot better than I thought it was going to be,” Morgan Wooten, junior in communication, said. “I’m proud of that.”
Wooten and Emily Barwick, senior in biological sciences, said they thought it was good to see the student body uniting over an issue.
“It’s the first thing I’ve seen the student body actively trying to change since I’ve been here,” Wooten said.
Still others, like Sara Yasin, student centers president and junior in textile and apparel management, remained hopeful turnout would increase.
“More people will come, I have faith in that,” she said. “Students need to be angry. We have very few traditions, and this is one of the few things that we have…what are they going to take from us next?”
After classes ended around 4:15 p.m., more students did join the small crowd. According to Zach Adams, student senate president and senior in industrial engineering, “at any given time there were at least 150 students.”
Adams tried to rile up the students with a few chants, while Student Body President Will Quick and Student Treasurer Adam Compton thanked everyone for coming out.
“Tailgating has always been a big tradition here at N.C. State,” Quick, senior in biomedical engineering, said. “It’s something we can’t lose.”
Quick said it meant a lot to have the students show up and show support, and Compton, junior in construction engineering and management, agreed.
“There are people here today that can change the policy,” Compton said. “It’s very important that you guys came out here.”
When Tom Stafford, vice chancellor for student affairs, began to speak, the crowd became restless. He addressed tailgating, and the importance of students in the football task force, and the decisions made. He then began to speak about the new ticketing policy.
“Because students cheated, that resulted in a lot of significant problems,” Stafford said. “If you want to be upset…I ask you to consider those students.”
As he talked about what would happen if the new ticketing policy proved inadequate, senior in mechanical engineering Graham Mullins shouted from the crowd.
“Can we talk about tailgating?” he said. “Is that possible?”
After reading a statement from the chancellor, Stafford addressed tailgating again. He said the new ticketing policy wasn’t affecting tailgate time, and pointed out that the regulations on tailgating were the same ones in effect since the task force convened.
“We didn’t like it then, we won’t like it now,” Mullins said. “You can’t cook a pig in four hours!”
According to Stafford, the rules put in place represent an “adequate” time to tailgate, and many were instituted because of unruly conduct on the part of students. The crowd began to murmur, shouting that they disagreed.
“We are quite aware that you don’t agree,” Stafford said.
Other suggestions came from the crowd, such as avoiding alumni lots and establishing a family zone in response to the complaints of alumni and parents that Stafford mentioned.
Scott Cavanaugh, junior in business, said the decisions made based on those complaints were unfair, because NCSU is the students’ University, not the families’.
“This is our school, we should have priority over them of what goes on at our tailgates,” he said. “But the University sees it differently.”
According to Stafford, the students’ presence at the tailgating rally made it clear to the administration how students feel and the only way to get good solutions is to get everyone involved in the decision making process. But he said it would take time.
“The issue is one that we cannot address in any way before we’ve gotten past these next two games,” he said.
