Inside Higher Education: Wake Forest Reimagines the Tailgate

[PhDeac]

[h=1]Wake Forest Makes Tailgates More Inclusive[/h]








The university adds music, seating, food trucks and tent rentals to pre–football game tailgates, hoping to draw students who have never felt welcome at the fraternity-dominated events.


https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2021/11/18/wake-forest-reimagines-tailgate

When tailgating—and football—were canceled last year due to the pandemic, administrators used the reprieve to re-evaluate the student tailgate experience.





Pre–football game tailgates at Wake Forest University have traditionally been dominated by fraternities, featuring tent after tent emblazoned with Greek letters, housing groups of raucous—often inebriated—students huddled together in their usual places.

“Not only did you have a tailgating area that was not generally inclusive to the entire undergraduate population, it was very much focused on each individual tailgate spot,” said Tim Wilkinson, associate dean for student engagement. “If you weren’t a member of a fraternity or sorority, you didn’t necessarily see a place for you, because you saw Greek letters.”

When tailgating—and football—were canceled last year due to the pandemic, administrators used the reprieve to re-evaluate the university’s insular, decades-old tailgate tradition and brainstorm ways to make it more welcoming to all.


Students returning to campus this fall found a vastly different scene at Truist Field. The tradition known as the DEACTOWN Student Tailgate now included a stage featuring music from a DJ, two bars and free fare from local food trucks, as well as new seating and eating areas. It was all part of the initiative the university launched to attract all students, including those who don’t typically attend football games.
The university also purchased tents, which student organizations can book to tailgate, and provided access to tables and chairs. In the past, student organizations were responsible for bringing their own tents, music, food and alcohol, as long as they followed Wake Forest’s social hosting guidelines, said Wilkinson.
“We wanted to really think about how we could take cost out of being a determining factor for students attending tailgates, as well as have a unified experience,” Wilkinson said.

Hobart collaborated with Wilkinson and José Villalba, vice president for diversity and inclusion, and their university departments to create the new student tailgate experience. Villalba said the focus on diversity and inclusion grew out of the university’s R.I.D.E. framework—Realizing Inclusion, Diversity and Equity—along with the Black Lives Matter protests during the summer of 2020.
“It’s not so much that athletics said, ‘We have a problem here’ as much as it was that athletics said, ‘Do we have a chance to make something that has worked out fine, but that could work out even better?’” Villalba said.
Pondering such questions gave the university a chance to recognize aspects of tailgating culture that could be inequitable, including the cost for students to attend or for organizations to register, Wilkinson said. Additionally, because student organizations previously had to bring their own tents and stake out their own areas within the tailgate, it created an “individualistic” culture, Wilkinson said.
The live DJ allows students to listen to music together, Wilkinson said—rather than see who could blast tunes louder, as they did in previous years. And with the addition of food trucks and two bars run by the university, Wilkinson said students can rent tents without feeling pressure to bring alcohol, since the university is supplying it.
Villalba said he knew the new tailgate was a success when the Wake Forest School of Divinity showed up this year for the first time in ages. He noted that the divinity school is one of the university’s most diverse student groups, both racially and socioeconomically.

 

[WRS]

They post a lot about the student tailgate on Instagram and I’m super jealous. Great idea and execution.

 

[Minideac]

Was that the area along Baity St?

 

[macktheknife]

Keep killing it Currie.

 

[wakephan09]

Keep killing it Currie.

Even though this article is from the perspective of administrators (and published in IHE), it does seem that you're right that the athletic department prompted this revisiting of tailgate culture. Sounds awesome

This bit is key: "...it was that athletics said, ‘Do we have a chance to make something that has worked out fine, but that could work out even better?’” Villalba said."

 

[PhDeac]

The Athletic Department working with a broad range of administrators to get a broader range of students to games in order to unify campus culture could greatly benefit the university beyond sports. Curious to see what they're going to do for hoops, especially if the women maintain positive momentum and Forbes makes the leap.

 

[Harpua]

That's excellent.

 

[Rafi]

Was that the area along Baity St?

No, these are the tennis courts, right next to the stadium. But it does sound like Baity Street is going well during tailgate time.

 

[Deacfreak07]

As someone who has been on the East Side for nearly 20 years, this year’s setup is way better. The shared music is so critical. The first few years post WS Open is was just chaos.

I think the next step is to figure out some way to effectively use the space during halftime. Our concourse is not adequate for sellout crowds on that side. Can’t speak for the west side, but the lines on the east side were insane the last couple weeks.

 

[Minideac]

No, these are the tennis courts, right next to the stadium. But it does sound like Baity Street is going well during tailgate time.

It was busy Sat. night. When the cheerleaders and band came marching through a young man jumped into the midst of the cheerleaders, just inches from one of them, leering at her. She looked really uncomfortable. Definitely not a cool move.

 

[Rafi]

As someone who has been on the East Side for nearly 20 years, this year’s setup is way better. The shared music is so critical. The first few years post WS Open is was just chaos.

I think the next step is to figure out some way to effectively use the space during halftime. Our concourse is not adequate for sellout crowds on that side. Can’t speak for the west side, but the lines on the east side were insane the last couple weeks.

Great point. The east side concourse was a mess at halftime - couldn't even move.

 

[Tobacco Road]

I like this take on it and hope this continues to improve the gameday atmosphere and student attendance/participation. Weren't we hearing complaints early in the year that this seemed too forced and not what the students wanted. It was old guys setting up what old guys would want to do at a football game?
Was that overblown? Has it gotten better. Have students just recognized how to take advantage and enjoy it? I really like that they are trying to allow for a fun environment for more students and hope they hear from the students on how to execute.

 

[user name]

Did anyone notice the large state tailgate/party inside Couch ballpark? Do they rent that from the athletic department?

 

[BarcaDeac]

Great point. The east side concourse was a mess at halftime - couldn't even move.

Yeah I went down at the start of halftime to pee and get coffee and/or hot chocolate. All the lines for the coffee trucks were insane but I waited in one about 25 deep. Think they ran out of coffee and were brewing more but stopped serving for like 5-10 mins. By that point I was able to watch the opening KO return so I went back to my seat defeated.

 

[DownEastDeac]

Did anyone notice the large state tailgate/party inside Couch ballpark? Do they rent that from the athletic department?

Sure as hell did; saw that walking in and thought "oh boy, here we go", but was pleasantly surprised that it was clearly a Wake home game inside the confines of Truist.
Actually not a bad idea to have a designated space for the visiting team to rent and promote for visiting fans to congregate. We usually tailgate in the Senior Services lot, and was pleased to see that it was not overrun by red/white as in years past; maybe they were all at Couch this year.

 

[user name]

Same, walking in from senior services lot. Been parking there for years. When I saw red and white balloons and all the folks in there with red and white I thought what the crap is this?!

 

[TheAbster]

Same, walking in from senior services lot. Been parking there for years. When I saw red and white balloons and all the folks in there with red and white I thought what the crap is this?!

Well, we took their money and sent them home losers. A win-win.

 

[user name]

Well, we took their money and sent them home losers. A win-win.

 

[deacdixieboy]

As an undergrad I would not have enjoyed listening to a DJ but that’s just me. Glad it’s working to well though. The students have been great this year.

 

[Deacfreak07]

As an undergrad I would not have enjoyed listening to a DJ but that’s just me. Glad it’s working to well though. The students have been great this year.

Much better than listening to 5 at the same time like it was before.