The Facts: The campout for tickets to the home basketball game against UNC-Chapel Hill is scheduled to take place two days before the start of the spring semester, Jan. 9. A poll conducted by Student Government indicated that almost half of students do not prefer that time.

Our Opinion: Student Government has made some good changes to the campout this year, such as moving the event back to Reynolds Coliseum. But the event is not on a convenient date for many students and must be reconsidered.

The yearly campout for basketball tickets to the UNC-Chapel Hill game is an honored tradition at the University. Students brave the elements on a cold winter night with their peers, and fellow fans, for a chance to see the Wolfpack face off against our rivals in Chapel Hill.

The Student Government run event is fun for students and is a quintessential element on the calendars of Pack fans.

This year, Student Government has decided to hold the event Jan. 9 — two days before classes start back from winter break. The dorms on campus reopen Jan. 8, but the date seems precarious nonetheless. Will students really be back from break yet, or will many students choose to stay at home the extra couple days and take their chances with the 20 percent of tickets available through the regular lottery?

The timing for this year’s home game against the Tar Heels creates some logistical issues for Student Government. Moving the event forward one week would move it onto Martin Luther King Jr. weekend, which would cost SG thousands in extra staffing costs due to overtime pay. If the event were held the weekend before the game, which is Jan. 26, SG would not have enough time to manually enter the student IDs of students to award them their tickets.

Despite the logistical issues the game date presents, students were not particularly enthused about holding the campout Jan. 9. In an exit poll to the Student Government fee referenda, 49 percent of students said they would not want the event to be held Jan. 9.

Almost half the students who voted indicated through their votes that the time was inconvenient for them.

Student Government’s decision to move the campout back to Reynolds Coliseum is a great decision that evokes the event’s tradition. It should also be commended for working together with the Union Activities Board to create events for students that will maximize the recreational elements during the late night downtime.

Nonetheless, this is a storied tradition that should be convenient as possible for students. Perhaps the campout should have been held at the end of this semester to facilitate student attendance or some other creative alternative. But the scheduled date doesn’t work for many students who won’t have returned from winter break — it needs to be reconsidered.