At the beginning of the first home game of the 2007 football season, the student section was surprisingly empty. Student Body President, Bobby Mills said he was in the security tower at the top of Vaughn Towers, and quickly found out why students were not in their seats.
“If you noticed at the game, section 14, the very top section of the upper level was empty, and from my view, I can look outside the gate,” he said, “and you see thousands of students waiting in line still, because of the backlog.”
The backlog, some students say, was caused by the Event One staff searching students to ensure contraband materials didn’t make it into the stadium.
John Tart, III, senior in poultry and animal science, got in line to enter the stadium about 35 minutes before kickoff. Once he got to the front of the line, there were two tables with Staff One employees waiting, he said.
“They asked me to empty out my pockets and pull them out,” Tart said. “I had on cargo shorts and when I pulled everything out the Staff One guy proceeded to pat down my lower pockets to check for whatever it was he thought I may have had.”
As he proceeded to put his belongings back in his pockets, he said they asked him to raise his shirt.
“I felt this was unreasonable,” he said. “Anyways, I should not have to expose myself to anyone in public when I clearly have already gone through a search process.”
What happened next was, he said, ridiculous.
“My girlfriend was after me, and she had to open her purse [and] take out her shorts pockets,” he said. “Then the male staff proceeded to pat around her waist to check her belt line.”
He became concerned, he said, and asked why a male was patting down a female.
“At this point one of the [Raleigh Police Department] officers confronted me and told me that if I didn’t like it, I didn’t have to stay because it was private property.”
Tart’s girlfriend, who declined to be identified, said it was weird and almost uncomfortable.
“I didn’t think there was any need for him to pat me down. It was clear there was nothing on me,” she said. “I guess I just went along with it though because waiting in line, everyone else, guys and girls, were getting patted down and asked to lift clothing, so I didn’t want to cause any problems. But looking back, it was pretty odd feeling, like I wish they didn’t have to go that far.”
One year ago, controversy surrounded the Football Task Force and the rules it initiated to create a safer and more enjoyable environment for football fans. One rule that was discussed, but not passed, was for pat downs on admittance to the football stadium.
Tom Stafford, vice chancellor of student affairs, said he wasn’t aware of any pat downs at the most recent home game, but said event staff do have the authority to implement them in certain cases.
“I haven’t heard any reports, but I can tell you that if anybody comes up to the stadium and the security people there have reason to be concerned about what they’ve got, they have the authority to pat them down,” Stafford said.
But Tart and his girlfriend weren’t the only ones searched.
“The event staff had everyone lift up their shirts high enough so they could see if you were hiding anything in your waistband,” Percy Tyndall, senior in computer science, said. “All of the guys were checked and had their pockets checked.”
Tyndall said he also saw girls getting patted down by male event staff.
“There were several girls who were getting patted down as I was going through the gate,” he said. “After some of us said something to them about it, they basically told us that if we didn’t like it, then we could leave.”
The best way to explain the pat downs, Tyndall said, is how a cop performs searches when he suspects someone may be carrying something they shouldn’t be.
“Some of the girls were wearing clothes where there was no way possible they could be carrying anything, but they still got patted down the same way,” he said, adding some were in sundresses and others in tanktops and skirts. “Pretty much everyone was getting checked whether they looked suspicious or not.”
Jimmy Brandhorst, junior in political science, said searches conducted by the opposite sex are bothersome.
“That is on the low level of a form of harassment and should not be done,” Brandhorst said. “It’s definitely a form of harassment.”
Laura De Castro, a senior in political science, said she didn’t agree with it, either.
“First of all, they don’t have any right to be doing that,” she said. “And second of all, it shouldn’t be happening between a male and a female. I don’t think it should be occurring.”
Tyndall said he understands the concern about security, but said the searches aren’t preventing much, and are causing the backlog that kept many students from being in their seats at kickoff.
“When you have thousands of students waiting in a line, it just isn’t feasible to check everyone,” he said. “During the 30 minutes I was in line, I didn’t see them find anything. And it obviously isn’t working anyway since the bleachers are littered with airplane bottles after a game.”
Another cause of the backlog, Mills said, is the ticketing system. Students have tickets that they print off their computers and are scanned, whereas other ticket holders have a physical ticket and can just go through the gate, he said.
“In those gates, there’s no patting down, unless suspicion occurs,” Mills said. “There’s not many deterrents for someone going in with a liquor bottle or an airplane bottle.”
The deeper issue is, he said, that students are treated differently.
“They tend to find more on students, but they track us more, so of course they’re finding more,” Mills said. “This issue was addressed in the football task force: you should not treat students differently. We are adults and you should not treat us differently, there’s no reason for that.”