Yalies Wary of New Tailgate Restrictions

With new regulations requiring this year’s Harvard-Yale tailgate to close at kickoff, Yalies aren’t looking forward to foregoing alcohol two quarters earlier than in past years.

Yale senior Tyler W. Hill called the tighter regulations—instituted in part by the city of Boston order to bring The Game tailgate in line with other university sporting events—“tragic.”

But Hill also said he remained undaunted by the more restrictive policy.

“Yale is an industrious bunch, and no mere regulations can be wielded against us that will quash our ability to have fun,” he said. “We might even allow some Harvard students to have fun with us.”

Hill said he observed tighter restrictions at the Harvard-Yale Game two years ago in Cambridge than at either of the home games he has attended at Yale.

He blamed this discrepancy on Harvard’s administrative culture, which he described as “less understanding of student needs.”

Yale sophomore Ivan Soares, a Massachusetts native, said he thinks that Boston is more active in Harvard affairs than New Haven is in those of Yale.

“We’re more in a Yale bubble,” he said.

Soares added that a sense of trust exists between the New Haven police and Yale students. “That’s always been the tradition,” he said.

Adam B. Goodrum, a junior at Yale, said that police have been more persistent at Harvard-Yale games in Boston than at those in New Haven.

He said he remembers police at Harvard searching vehicles and bags for alcohol, whereas at Yale, “what you see is a patrol presence.”

Goodrum said the police at Harvard made him feel uncomfortable at The Game two years ago.

“It kind of invades your privacy and makes you feel like you’ve done something wrong,” he said.

The new rules “really restrict the entire tailgating experience,” he said.