A meeting between student leaders, University administration and Athletics administration Wednesday finalized some plans for this year’s Campout, but some plans must still be worked out, Student Senate Campus Community Committee Chair Morgan Donnelly said.
Donnelly, a junior in political science, said the meeting was an opportunity to work out some of the logistics involved with planning the Campout.
“We basically talked with Dr. Stafford about the dos and don’ts of Campout,” she said. “We figured out how many tickets we can have and also talked about where we could have it.”
Donelly said the group agreed on the number of tickets — between 2,100 and 2,500 — allotted for the Campout.
Aside from the number of tickets, Donnelly said plans for the location and date of the Campout have not been set.
“We talked about where we could hold it,” Donnelly said. “We’re looking at a lot of options. We might have it on Lee Field again. It depends on what Campus Police says and also what the Campus Community Committee wants to plan for the night.”
The date for this year’s Campout is still to be determined, although Donnelly did say it will be on a Friday either one or two weeks prior to the game.
“We set a tentative date for Jan. 16,” she said. “We’re working with Athletics on the date because we are wanting to use the loyalty point system.”
Student Body President Jay Dawkins said he hopes to incorporate the loyalty point system into this year’s Campout to make sure the most loyal fans get tickets.
“The biggest complaint after last year’s Campout was that seniors and the most loyal fans didn’t get good seats,” he said. “This point system could be a great way to make sure the people who are going to the games are getting the best seats.”
Zach Sipes, a sophomore in nutrition science, said he agreed with seniors and students who have more loyalty points getting better seats.
“If a person gets a ticket and they haven’t gone to any games, that just doens’t seem right,” he said. “The people with the most loyalty points should be the ones with the best tickets.”
Donnelly said the point system could even be incorporated into how students are placed at Campout.
“Maybe students with more loyalty points will have a better campsite,” she said.
Another goal for this year’s committe, Donnelly said, was to have activities for students to make the Campout enjoyable.
“We want students to have a fun experience,” she said. “We might show movies and we may even have some sort of philanthropic aspect to it. Maybe students could donate canned goods or something like that.”
Sipes said the music at last year’s Campout was enjoyable and would be something the Campus Community Committee could do again.
“Last year they had that band out there, which was really cool,” Sipes said. “The music was cool, but it wasn’t so loud you couldn’t ignore it if you wanted to.”
Donnelly said the plans for activities the night of the Campout will come once the logistical problems are decided and finalized.
“The biggest thing we’re dealing with right now is logistics,” she said. “Last year it was hard because we really didn’t have a good system. We’re trying to improve that.”
Dawkins said students can expect final plans for the Campout soon.
“With the date being so early in January, planning is crucial,” he said. “We have to get the plans set before the end of the semester.”
