Two years after starting the Wolfpack In The House Partners initiative Student Body President Jay Dawkins said the program has has been beneficial though not perfect.
“I feel like it was as successful as it was last year,” Dawkins, a junior in civil engineering, said. “It was about as effective as it could be with 20 to 30 volunteers in a parking lot full of people.”
Former Student Body President Bobby Mills worked to revitalize the program two years ago to promote good sportsmanship between fanbases at football games, especially during tailgating. WITH also aims to promote responsible behavior, especially recycling, while fans are tailgating.
But according to Dawkins, minimal volunteer and financial support has hindered the program from its full potential.
“The financial and people help is limited,” Dawkins said.
After the initiative’s second football season, some students still say they are not aware of the program because of the lack of appropriate staffing.
“I’ve heard of it just because of the bumper stickers,” Bryan Federowicz, a freshman in professional golf management, said. “I didn’t even know [promoting sportsmanship] was what it was for.”
Dawkins said the success of the program will continue to be limited until WITH gets more help.
Federowicz agreed, saying the program probably couldn’t function properly without an adequate number of volunteers.
Even though WITH might not be where it should be as a program, Dawkins said it is still a good endeavor.
“It is a movement to create a better fan experience,” he said. “And that’s a good thing.”
After the shootings before a football game Sept. 4, 2004, University officials restricted tailgating to four hours.
The University implemented the WITH program as a political move, Dawkins said.
“Politically, it was a move for more [tailgating] hours,” he said.
The chancellor outlined an agreement in April 2007 to create a task force to promote good sportsmanship as part of an exchange for an one hour increase in tailgating hours after continued pressure to increase hours from students and alumni.
“Implementation of the ambassador program, alchohol education program and Campus Police Initiative give us the basis to move forward with the extension of tailgating hours,” Oblinger wrote his statement.
Two years into the program, fans still have five hours to tailgate. But to make an impact in the smaller issues such as recycling and sportsmanship, the program needs more volunteers and more financial support, Dawkins said.
“Hopefully we can keep working and get some more revenue [to support WITH],” Dawkins said.
