The Brown & White

Tailgates could become more regulated next football season as Lower Saucon police seek a grant to help them better patrol the roads around Goodman Campus.

Drinking that occurs on Goodman before and during sporting events is a large concern of the township.

The police applied for a grant for about $2,000 from the Pennsylvania liquor control board to help them step up enforcement of drinking laws at sporting events, said Lower Saucon Police Chief Guy Lesser.

Lesser said the grant will enable police to patrol all five of Lehigh's home football games.

Officers will focus on the routes used to get to and from the stadium in an effort to curb underage drinking, he said.

Because of jurisdictional boundaries, Lehigh police are not responsible for students on Goodman Campus. Lower Saucon police are designated to patrol the area, Lesser said.

Lesser said the police's main concern is the safety of the students. A police presence may prevent students from getting hurt or belligerent.

"History has shown that consumption of alcoholic beverages by persons under 21 years of age leads to illegal conduct, as well as injury and death," he said.

Last fall, Lower Saucon police cited 13 students for underage drinking after stopping three cars leaving Goodman after tailgates for an Oct. 20 football game, police said.

Students were also cited after several other games.

To many students, tailgates is part of the social scene, but Carolyn Ferreira, '11, said sometimes people need to stop drinking before they ruin the fun for everyone.

"There is an excessive amount of drinking at Goodman, especially at football games," Ferreira said. "There is reserved parking and people just go to tailgate and then leave. This was part of the reason why the buses threatened to stop taking people to the Lehigh-Lafayette game."

She said student attendance at games may drop if underage drinking laws are enforced more, but she added that a lot of students never make it to games anyway.

Liz Jenkins, '09, said students have a looser attitude about drinking at Goodman because they are away from the main campus, but she stressed that students still need to take precautions, like assigning a designated driver.

"People have to be smart," Jenkins said.