Tailgating zone expands at WCU
The decision to expand the tailgating area at Western Carolina University boiled down to one simple thing, the university’s attorney Mary Ann Lochner told the Board of Trustees’ Administration, Governance and Trusteeship Committee last week.
“We want to drink in more places than we currently do,” Lochner said. “What else? Are there more questions?”
The committee — and, the next day, the whole board — voted unanimously to approve the Belk Building parking lot as a new alcohol-permissible tailgating zone. It was a decision borne of a concurrent spike in alumni numbers, football wins and, as a result, team spirit.
“Homecoming this year was one of the most well-attended games I’ve been to in years,” said Alumni Association President-Elect Robin Pate. “It wasn’t just spectators in the stands. It was fans coming to cheer for their team.”
WCU has been doing a lot of growing recently, with total enrollment — which includes students who take classes online or at the Asheville campus — reaching 10,000 for the first time in 2013 and continuing to rise.
The football team is also doing a lot better. Between 2010 and 2013, they won just six games in all. Compare that to this season, when the team won seven of its 12 games.
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The university’s marching band is also a draw, accumulating even more of a following in the last few years following a 2011 appearance at the Rose Bowl and leading the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade in 2014, Pate said.
The Belk lot, while one of the smaller lots on campus, is adjacent to other areas where alcohol is allowed, including the Bardo Fine and Performing Arts Center, Jordan-Phillips Field House and E.J. Whitmire Stadium lots.
So, things have gotten more crowded during game days, but that’s a good problem to have.
“There’s a lot to be excited about,” Pate said. “There’s a lot to see and do. It’s more than a football game. It’s more than tailgating. It’s an entire experience of the day.”
